


Set in Stone

by ZVArmy



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Action, Divorce, Drama, F/M, Love, Romance, Sex, Wrestling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 19:47:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 50
Words: 105,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20296978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZVArmy/pseuds/ZVArmy
Summary: Grace Stone has been called up from NXT to the main roster, where she will join the women's tag team division. Her partner will be Zelina Vega, who invites her to travel on the tour bus she shares with Seth Rollins, Bayley, and Roman Reigns, who is recently divorced. Will Grace be the one to help him heal?





	1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This story takes place in the same world as La Arquitecta and Executive Orders, and follows on from those stories. However, I will do my best to ensure that reading those stories isn't a requirement for enjoying this one._

_It has been a while since I made a new O/C, as I prefer to re-use the ones that are already established throughout my stories. However, I decided that it was time to go with something new for this story. I have chosen to base the character's name and appearance on a character in the TV show Manifest, but all of the other details (backstory etc) will be my own._

_Speaking of something new, I have never written Roman as a main character before either, so I'm going to give that a try as well!_

* * *

Grace Stone's call up from NXT to the main roster had not gone as planned. What crap luck it had been to pick up an injury on the very night that she had received the news about her promotion.

"This is going to be your last match with us, Grace," Hunter Helmsley had said minutes before she went out to the ring to wrestle the match in which she was going to drop the NXT Women's Championship to Io Shirai. His reason for letting her know had been to give her the chance to informally say goodbye to the fans after the Takeover match, who recognised an impending call up when they saw one.

Unfortunately, Grace had dislocated her left elbow during the match. Her injury hadn't changed the finish of the match because she had bravely continued as planned, putting Io over clean. What the injury had changed was the plans for her call up. Instead of appearing on Monday Night Raw the night after SummerSlam, she had been sent to Florida for a thorough examination, the result of which had been two months on the injured list for rehab.

Initially, Grace had been depressed by the cruel hand that fate had dealt her. She had feared that her call up might be cancelled, imagining Lucy Thorne, the Chairwoman on WWE, telling Hunter, "Keep her down there for a few months when she comes back."

However, to Grace's relief, it hadn't turned out like that. Out of the blue one Thursday afternoon she had received a phone call from WWE headquarters, from none other than the Chairwoman herself.

"How's the arm?" had been Ms Thorne's first question, her well-spoken English accent quite crisp. As if she hadn't already received a report from the company's medical staff to tell her that Grace Stone was cleared to get back in the ring, Grace had thought.

"It's great, thank you. I've been back in full training for a couple of weeks now," she had said a little nervously. It was pretty much the first time she had spoken to the boss, and definitely the first time she had been the beneficiary of a personal phone call.

"That's good," Thorne had replied. "Then I think it's time we talked about how we're going to bring you back to TV. Why don't you come to the office tomorrow and we'll have a chat. Let's say noon."

"Sure. I'll be there. Thank you," Grace had stumbled. She had heard stories about Ms Thorne's preference to handle a lot of her business face to face. With the instruction she had been given, she had learned first-hand had how accurate those stories were. She was required to fly from Orlando to New York and back again for a meeting that would likely only last a matter of minutes.

Grace wasn't stupid, though. She knew full well that the meeting would be as much about the Chairwoman getting an impression of her personally than anything to do with her return to the ring. Since buying a controlling share in WWE from Vince McMahon when he opted to retire, Lucy Thorne had built a reputation among WWE's wrestlers as a firm but fair boss who looked after her people when they needed it. Like any boss, she did seem to have people she preferred over others, and that was sometimes reflected in booking decisions. For that reason, Grace knew that making a good impression might go a long way to helping her make a successful start on the main roster. Often, getting that first decent push was the hardest hurdle for people to get over. Those who failed, well, they failed.

The important meeting was now moments away. It was ten after noon, and Grace was sitting in Ms Thorne's outer office, waiting to be allowed to go in and see the boss. The corporate environment had never been Grace's comfort zone, and nerves were making her stomach flutter. Sure, WWE HQ looked amazing now that the well-publicised renovations had been completed, it just wasn't the kind of place that Grace liked to be. She was at home either in a wrestling ring or basking in the sun on a beach somewhere.

"Ms Thorne will see you now," the female secretary said from behind the desk near to where Grace was sitting.

"Thank you," she replied. Getting up, she straightened her black suit jacket, hoping that she didn't look as awkward as she felt wearing it. It was one of only two suits she owned, but at least she had a nice maroon coloured blouse to wear with it.

One thing Grace had been blessed with was a beautiful smile, flashing her perfect teeth. That smile had stood her in good stead throughout her life, whether it was disarming situations that were not going her way, or whether it was meeting a person for the first time, the smile was almost always a winner. She made sure to have it on full display when she walked into the plush office belonging to the Chairwoman.

Lucy Thorne was sitting behind a black wooden desk, wearing a black suit and a silver watch that was probably worth as much as Grace's apartment down in Orlando. That thought triggered a pang of jealously to add to the nerves she was feeling. How did some people end up with so much money? It was ludicrous.

"Grace, nice to see you," Thorne said, rising and offering her hand. There was a warm, professional smile on her face.

"Thank you for inviting me," Grace said politely as she accepted the handshake from the woman who was taller than her own five feet seven. She had the thought that a tall, good looking, powerful businesswoman like Lucy probably scared the shit out of a lot of corporate types. Good for her, Grace thought. In her opinion, the world needed more women in powerful positions.

"Take a seat. Would you like anything to drink?"

Grace wasn't thirsty, but she figured that accepting the offer was the best thing to do. "Coffee would be nice, thank you," she said, trying to sound relaxed as she flashed another smile and sat down in one of the comfortable leather office chairs in front of the desk.

Thorne picked up the phone that presumably connected her straight to her secretary outside. "Sarah, bring some coffee in, please," she said a moment later. "Thank you."

The phone was replaced, and Thorne's attention was turned squarely to Grace, who saw the pretty blue eyes scrutinising her. Her first impression was still being made.

"Talk about unfortunate timing with that injury," Lucy commented.

"Yes, I was pretty distraught about it at the time," Grace admitted, deciding to go with honesty as the best policy. "I was afraid it might mean I had to stay in NXT when I came back."

"And you don't think that now?" Thorne asked, testing her for her answer.

"No. I don't think you would have called me and invited me here if that were the case. I feel like Hunter would have called me and told me to come to the next set of tapings."

"Well, quite," Thorne said, seeming to appreciate the answer. "Your call up is going ahead. You're going to be on Raw this coming Monday."

This time Grace didn't have to consciously smile. She couldn't have stopped it if she wanted to. It was really happening. She had made the main roster. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it," she said.

Frustratingly for Grace, the secretary chose that moment to enter the office with a tray, interrupting the conversation. She set it at the end of Thorne's spacious desk and fixed the boss's drink without needing to enquire as to what she wanted. Grace then gave her preference, and her drink was fixed also.

"Thank you, Sarah," Thorne said, dismissing her. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes, your call up. Let's talk about what I have in mind for you."

Grace heard the door behind her close. She was on tenterhooks. Please let this be something good, she begged internally. The last thing she wanted was to be landed with a crap gimmick or a weak storyline. There was only one chance to make a first impression to Raw's much wider audience.

"You look nervous," Thorne observed, smiling slightly.

Stick with honesty, Grace told herself before giving a nervous laugh. "I'm crapping myself."

Thorne laughed loudly, telling Grace that her honesty policy was a good one. "Why are you crapping yourself? Are you worried about the pressure of the call up?"

"No, not at all," Grace said quickly, recognising the seriousness of that question even though it had been delivered with a smile. "I'm nervous because I've rarely been in this kind of environment. I'm also nervous about what you might be about to tell me."

"Explain?" Lucy said, giving nothing away with her expression.

Shit, you've dug yourself a nice little hole here, Grace told herself. Well, honesty had got her into it. Maybe it would get her out? If not, at least Thorne couldn't accuse her of not being honest. That had to count for something, right?

"My call up means the world to me. I'm thirty one. I've been wrestling for twelve years. All I've ever wanted to do is make it to WWE. Now you've just told me I have. It's incredible. But I want to be the best I can be on the main roster."

"You don't want a bloody awful gimmick. That's what you're saying?" Thorne asked in a very English way that would have amused Grace if she'd been pissed off with herself for making what seemed like another mistake.

"Well, yes, I guess that is what I'm saying," she replied quietly, telling herself to rest in peace as she spoke.

To her pleasant surprise, Lucy laughed again. "I like straight talking, Grace. I respect it. Some people come in here and do everything they can to kiss my arse, telling me what they think I want to hear instead of what they actually think. Your stock just went up a notch."

Holy shit, Grace thought, delighted. "Thank you," she said with a smile.

"And worry not," Thorne said, continuing as if Grace hadn't said anything. "I don't think you're going to be disappointed with what I have lined up for you. We're not doing anything to change your character, as in appearance, move set, all of that, but I do want you to turn heel."

"Oh, okay," Grace said, surprised. She had never worked heel with NXT, and had been quite over as a babyface. Still, she was being informed now, not asked.

"And we're putting you in the tag team division," Lucy said, again ignoring what Grace had said. "Since we introduced the Women's Tag Team Championships earlier this year we have taken some flak for 'not using them properly'. Fans say that all the time, whenever their favourite wrestler isn't pushed non-stop, but on this one I've come to realise that they're probably right."

They are right, Grace thought, thinking better of opening her mouth and being honest on that particular point.

"That's why we're putting some new teams together," Lucy was saying. "We're going to build the division, and it's going to get more TV time. Obviously you are going to be on one of these new teams."

"Great. Who am I teaming with?" Grace asked enthusiastically.

"I'm thinking about putting you with Zelina Vega."

"Okay," Grace said thoughtfully, picturing the diminutive but fiery one time WWE Women's Champion and trying to picture what they would look like as a team. The cynic in her was unsurprised that WWE were going to put two dark skinned girls together. It seemed to be the way things were done, for some reason. Even though Grace had Egyptian descent and Zelina's background was Puerto Rican, that would hardly matter. On the plus side, Zelina was a good wrestler with more experience than she got credit for, and she was a fantastic promo. There was also the advantage that Grace knew her, thanks to working with her for other promotions before Zelina had signed for NXT some years earlier.

During her time on the main roster, Zelina had alternated between managing and wrestling, as if the higher-ups couldn't get a handle on what they wanted her to do. Her longest run as a wrestler had involved her one championship success, leading to a babyface run with the title that had lasted for a few months, so far as Grace remembered. Zelina had then gone back to managing, with Cesaro and then with her real life partner Seth Rollins.

"Okay? That's not a glowing endorsement," Thorne said.

"No, sorry, I was just thinking," Grace said quickly. "I like Zelina a lot. She's very good in the ring, and we already know each from before WWE. I say let's do it, I'll be delighted to team with her."

A satisfied smile appeared on Lucy's face. "Excellent, it's decided then."

Grace realised that the meeting was essentially over already, no matter how much longer it might go on for. Lucy had formed an impression of her, hopefully a good one, and had passed on the information about her debut on the main roster. Hell, it could have gone much worse, Grace thought. She had the prospect of forming a tag team to look forward to. It would be happening in just a few days, on her first Monday Night Raw appearance. With a lot of luck and even more hard work, it might be the start of something special.


	2. Chapter 2

Arriving for a Monday Night Raw event for the first time as a member of the roster was a huge deal for Grace. She had barely slept the night before. She had confidence in herself to nail her performance out in the ring when the time came, it was getting to that point that she was anxious about. As the kind of person who liked to go and get things done, the waiting for a big show or an important match always killed her.

Other than the fact she was going to form a team with Zelina Vega, Grace didn't know what to expect from her debut. She hadn't been told if she would be cutting a promo, having a match, or what the deal was. At least it wouldn't be long before she found out, she thought as she followed the paper signs that were taped to the walls, directing people to the various backstage areas. 'Female talent' were the ones she had to follow. Holy shit, she thought, shaking her head slightly. She was now female talent on the main roster. It was real.

The first person of any importance that Grace encountered was Bobby Roode. He came walking towards her along the hallway dressed in a smart dark grey business suit, carrying a stack of some kind of paperwork. On first instinct, Grace felt nervous. She didn't know Bobby at all. What she did know, as did everyone else, was that he was banging the boss. Indeed, he now lived with Lucy Thorne, or so she had heard. The relationship hadn't done him any harm, that was for sure. He was now semi-retired from wrestling, and worked back at the office as part of the booking/creative team. His move up the ladder had gotten him some heat from the boys in the locker room, according to rumours. Somehow, she doubted Bobby cared about that too much, all things considered.

"Grace, how are you?" Bobby said, giving her a friendly smile.

"I'm good. How are you?" she replied, stopping so that they could talk.

"I'm doing good. Congrats on the call up. I'm into the idea of you and Zel as a team. We've been throwing some names around, and it looks like we might go with The Stone Roses."

"The Stone Roses?" Grace echoed, unsure what the logic behind the Roses part was.

"Think about Zel's ring attire," he prompted. "She wears those roses in her hair when she comes out."

"Oh yeah," Grace said as it clicked in her head. "Yeah, that's not a bad name. I can see imagery with some kind of stone sculpture of a rose, if we get to the point where we have merch. Heck, it could even work as a logo or something to put on the screen for our entrance."

"I like that. I'll pass it along for you and we'll see what we can do."

"Thanks," Grace said. Pleasantly surprised, she flashed him one of her winning smiles.

"You're welcome. Listen, I've got to run," Bobby said, holding up the stack of papers as his reason. "Have a good night. Remember to enjoy it. You only get one debut."

"Thanks, I will," Grace said as he walked away. Remember to enjoy it. At first it seemed a bit patronising, but it actually was good advice, she realised upon reflection. It would be easy to go out there so focused on what she had to do that she didn't really take in the fan's reaction to her call up. That was something she definitely wanted to remember.

Proceeding along the hallway, Grace reached the women's locker room without bumping into any more colleagues or superiors. She was quite early, having wanted to make a good impression on her first day on the main roster. Being one of the last to roll into the locker room wouldn't have been a good look.

Grace took a deep breath for luck and opened the door. She saw that not many people had arrived as yet. Happily for her, Zelina Vega was among the few who had. She was standing on the far side of the room, chatting away to Bayley. Neither of them had apparently noticed the door open.

Lacey Evans, a fairly recent call up herself, was using one of the lockers closest to the door. Contrary to her on-screen persona, she had always been very friendly to Grace during their time together in NXT. In fact their lockers at the Performance Center had been next to each other, which had led to them being referred to as Gracie and Lacey by the trainers down there, in something of a running joke that only really seemed funny if you were there at the time.

"Gracie!" Lacey cried, walking over for a hug.

"Lacey!" Grace cried back. They deliberately made each other's names sounds cringe-worthy for comedic effect.

"I'm so glad you're here at last!" Lacey said while they briefly embraced. "Only you could injure yourself in your goodbye match."

"Tell me about it," Grace said, shaking her head. "One injury during my whole time in NXT, and that's the night it had to happen."

"You're here now, and that's what matters," Lacey said more seriously.

"Thanks," Grace said warmly.

"Girl, over here," Zelina called out in a friendly tone. Her attention had been attracted by Grace's conversation with Lacey.

Grace pulled her travel case over to her new teammate and Bayley. "Hi, guys," she said, giving another of her ever-reliable smiles.

"Congrats on the call up. You deserve it," Bayley said kindly.

"Thanks, Bayley," Grace said.

Zelina picked Grace's travel case up and firmly placed it in the locker next to her own. "We've got a locker for you right here. Make yourself at home."

It was a simple gesture, but it meant the world to Grace. It showed her in very simple terms that she was welcomed by Zelina as a part of the locker room, and as a tag team partner. She knew in that moment that she wouldn't forget it in a hurry. "Thanks, Zelina, that means a lot," she said.

"Sure," Zelina said easily. "We've all been there on our first day on the main roster, wondering if we're going to fit in and all the rest of it. It's bullshit that people have to feel like that, and in any event we're partners, so we'll change together."

"Sounds good," Grace said appreciatively.

"Do you have anyone to travel with?" Bayley asked.

"Actually, no," Grace admitted. Having at least one person to be on the road with was pretty much vital on the main roster, firstly to split travel expenses, and secondly for the sake of sanity. Somehow, it was something Grace hadn't put any thought into yet.

"There's a space going on our bus," Zelina said. "We talked it over as a group, and we want to offer it to you. No pressure," she added.

Wow, Grace thought. Everyone had seen the fancy tour bus that Zelina, Seth, Bayley and Roman rode around in, with their own hired driver, who also happened to be Bayley's fiancée, to get them from place to place. It seemed like a great way to get around, and it wouldn't even involve driving. What could be better? "I mean, if you're sure?" she said cautiously, looking from Zelina to Bayley and back again.

"We like to have a full crew," Bayley said, smiling.

"Yeah, and we've been one light for a while," Zelina added. "I thought that since you were coming up, we were going to be a team, and you might not have anyone to travel with, I'd put it to the group. Everyone voted yes, so you're in if you want to be. Obviously you'd have to pay a share of expenses. We divide it up equally between us, which is another reason we like a full crew."

Grace smiled humbly. "I don't have a problem with that. Seth and Roman voted yes to me? I don't even know them."

"No, but they know what kind of person you are. Everyone has a rep in the locker room, you know that. You're good to people. You train your ass off. You give everything you have in the ring. Shit, I sound like I'm your trainer. What I'm trying to say is you have respect. So, yeah, everyone voted yes to you joining us."

"Then absolutely I'm in," Grace said gratefully.

"Alright!" Bayley exclaimed happily.

"Your bunk will be below Roman's, so be warned there might be some farts seeping down your way," Zelina said with an evil grin on her face.

Bayley laughed. "Don't think she's joking, either."

"Can I back out?" Grace replied with a chuckle.

"Nope. You're committed now; Roman's farts, Daga's swearing at other drivers, the whole nine," Zelina said.

"Daga?" Grace asked. It was obvious they were talking about the driver, but the nickname didn't mean anything to her.

"That's Elena's nickname," Bayley said. "She's our driver, and my partner," she added proudly.

Grace nodded her understanding, not wanting to sound like a smart ass by saying she already knew the second part.

"Her surname is D'Agostino. She doesn't like being called Elena, so it's Daga."

"Got it," Grace replied.

"Alright, let's talk about tonight," Zelina said. "We're in a match against Billie and Peyton. They're putting us over. I was told that we're to come up with a double team finish to use."

All three of them sat down on the bench in front of the lockers.

"Let's throw some ideas together," Grace said.

"I'm happy to help out, if you like?" Bayley offered.

"The more brains on it the better," Grace said, wanting to do her best to fit in with her new group of friends from minute one.

* * *

Grace had wondered if nerves might trouble her when the time came for her debut. Thankfully, all she felt as she waited in Gorilla was excitement. Out in the ring, The IIconics were cutting a promo, ridiculing Lucy Thorne's promo from earlier in the night, during which she had challenged the women's roster to find partners for themselves and make the Tag Team Championship mean something, if that was what they wanted.

Billie and Peyton whined that they had already made the championships relevant when they had held them, despite it blatantly not being true, largely thanks to the raw deal they had gotten with their booking.

Zelina's music hit, interrupting Billie in full flow. The fans booed, since Zelina and Seth had recently been on a heel run, with her acting as his manager.

"See you in a sec," Zelina said, giving Grace a wink before she walked through the curtain and out onto the stage. Befitting what was going to be their new team name, Zelina had two dark red roses in her hair, the colour perfectly matching her ring attire.

"My god, don't you two ever shut the hell up?" Zelina asked after her music faded out. She actually received something of a cheer, which showed putting her against a heel team for the strange decision that it was. "All you ever do is talk, talk, talk, talk, talk! Earlier tonight, Lucy Thorne told everyone in the women's locker room to team up and come for the tag titles. That's exactly what I'm out here to do right now, starting with kicking with both of your asses."

"Aww, little Zelina is going to kick our asses," Peyton said, mocking her as if she was talking to an annoying kid who was sulking about not getting her own way.

"I don't know if you realise it, but you need a partner for a tag team match," Billie said in a similar tone.

"Yes, I'm aware I need a partner," Zelina said, rolling her eyes. "That's why I was glad I ran into someone backstage." It was her cue for Grace to come out.

Behind the curtain, Grace heard the noise in the arena rise slightly in anticipation. Zelina had built it up nicely. Her music hit, drawing quite a loud ovation. It was both a return and a debut, so the pop was no real surprise. It sure felt good though. Grace would have liked to run through the curtain and start celebrating her comeback on the stage. That wasn't the right image for a heel, though, and that was what she was supposed to be now.

With that in mind, she walked through the curtain, making sure to move in a slower and cockier way than people would have been used to seeing from her on NXT. On her way down to the ring, she took in the cheers as she ignored the hands that the fans either side of the aisle stretched out towards her. There was going to be no acknowledgement for them anymore. She imagined the commentary team hyping up her main roster debut, hoping that they were doing a good job of it.

When Grace reached her new partner halfway down the entrance ramp, Zelina fell in-step beside her. They entered the ring together and posed facing the hard camera, each forming half of a heart shape with a hand and joining them together to form a full heart. It was a gesture they had agreed upon earlier in the day, and it would tie in with their finishing move later on.

What followed was a run of the mill squash match, with The IIconics getting in pretty much no offense as Zelina and Grace took turns to tag each other in and show what they could do. It was important that they appeared to be a serious threat to the rest of the division, and that they demonstrated good teamwork. For that reason, they had been instructed to use a double team finish to get the three count.

The move that they had come up with, with help from Bayley, involved Grace being the legal competitor. Zelina hit a spike DDT on Peyton, then got her legs under Peyton's chest as Grace grabbed her in a waist lock. With a helping push from Zelina's feet, Grace throw Peyton backwards with a German suplex, maintaining a bridge for the pin.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

There was a muted cheer in response to the victory, telling Grace that she and Zelina needed to put some work into establishing their heel status in the coming weeks. For now, what mattered was that they had won a strong victory with the move that Zelina had requested Corey Graves to refer to as Heart of Stone. They topped it off by celebrating the victory with a repeat of the heart pose that they had debuted before the match.

Grace noticed that her music was playing. It wasn't particularly suitable for a heel team, she thought. That was something to mention when they got to the back. A new theme for The Stone Roses was going to be required, ideally as soon as possible.

In what felt like no time to Grace, the lights above the ring were turned off and the music stopped. Just like that, her debut segment was over. Raw had gone to commercial.

"I think that went well," Zelina said as they exited the ring together.

"Definitely. I really enjoyed it," Grace said positively. "We need music though. Mine doesn't work for our team, and neither does yours."

"True. I'd imagine they're on that already, but we'll mention it."

When they walked through the curtain into Gorilla, Lucy Thorne called out from her seat at behind production desk. "Nice job. I like the Heart of Stone."

That praise rounded off Grace's first night perfectly. It hadn't exactly been monumental in terms of its scale, but she had made the most of what she had been given to do. It was something to build on for the future.


	3. Chapter 3

Walking out into the arena's parking garage, Grace felt excitement and uncertainty in pretty much equal measure. She was looking forward to checking out the tour bus that was about to become her home on the road. She was also looking forward to meeting Elena for the first time, as well as Seth and Roman for pretty much the first time other than a few random hellos that had been exchanged here and there when they had crossed paths backstage at various events.

"You should know that there is a rule for new additions to the bus," Zelina said.

"What's that?" Grace asked seriously.

"You have to stock the fridge up with beer."

"Oh, okay. That I can do," Grace said, smiling broadly in amusement.

"You know, I'm so jealous of you two," Bayley said. "You both have such stunning smiles. I can't relate."

"Oh, shush, you're the cutest, Bay, and we all know it," Zelina said playfully.

"You know, you should do something with that, for your characters I mean," Bayley said thoughtfully, not really taking in Zelina's reply. "Work on making those smiles look cruel or vicious. It could be a great look for you. Very powerful."

"She's got a point," Grace said, looking at Zelina.

"She has. We'll talk about it later for sure," Zelina said.

They were approaching the bus, which was parked in a corner of the garage. Grace couldn't imagine how Elena had managed to back it in there, but that was probably why she was a wrestler and not a bus driver. The bus's door was open, with Elena sitting on the steps, waiting. She got up as they approached and stepped forward to meet Grace.

"You must be Grace. I'm Daga," she said in a strong Italian accent, offering a traditional Italian peck on each cheek in greeting.

"Really nice to meet you, Daga," Grace said warmly. "Thank you for inviting me onto the bus. I'm looking forward to being a part of the crew."

"I'm sure you are. They always do, at the start," Elena said, drawing laughs all round.

"We're supposed to actually get her on the bus before you say that," Zelina scolded, playing along.

Grace stood there smiling while Bayley joined in with the joking around. She had the impression that she was going to like travelling with these people a lot. Once she came out of her shell with people, Grace liked to have a laugh, and was no stranger to ribbing people either. It seemed like that would be for the best, for she could imagine there would be some ribs coming her way before too much longer.

"Okay, time to get on the bus," Elena said.

Grace couldn't help smiling at her accent. To make matters worse, Elena happened to look at her at that moment.

"What?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," Grace cringed. What an awful first impression she had just made.

Bayley put an arm around Grace's shoulders. "Don't be sorry. Daga gets teased for her Bond villain accent all the time. She doesn't mind."

"I don't mind, but I do expect you to die!" Elena said, doing a proper Bond villain impression, drawing more laughter.

When the funny moment passed, Zelina slid her case over to Elena, who took it and loaded it into the open luggage compartment in the side of the bus. "Grace, take anything you'll need while we travel out of your case, then Daga will load it up for you. You'll be able to bring it on-board when we park up for the night."

Bending down, Grace unzipped her case's front pocket and took out a phone charger. "Good to go, thanks," she said to Elena, who took the case and loaded it into the luggage hold.

"Right, let's show you around the bus," Bayley said, making her way up the steps.

"Aren't we a couple of passengers short?" Grace asked as she followed.

"Seth and Roman are always out last," Zelina said, third up the steps. "And men always talk about women taking ages to get ready to go anywhere."

Grace laughed. She found herself in what looked like a living area. There was a comfortable couch on either side of the bus, opposite each other. At the opposite end of the couches from the front of the bus there were two comfortable chairs that were bolted down to the floor. There was also a large flat screen TV fixed to one wall.

"This couch is mine and Seth's," Zelina said, pointing to the one she was standing closest to.

"And the other one is for me and Bayley," Elena said, walking up the steps.

Bayley was standing by one of the chairs. She put her hand on the back of it. "This is Roman's seat, so you'll be taking the other chair."

Grace sat down to try the chair for herself. Her first impression was that it was very comfortable. That shouldn't have surprised her on a tour bus like this, she realised. "Nice. I like it," she said.

Zelina walked past her and into a galley area with a fridge, microwave and a sink. "There's space here to make simple meals. The fridge is most often full of beer."

"Okay," Grace said, getting up to continue the tour. Bayley and Elena had stayed at the front of the bus, allowing Zelina to do the honours.

"Here are the bunk beds," Zelina said next. She pointed to each of the spaces, announcing who they belonged to. "Bayley, Daga, Roman, and this one will be yours."

"Okay," Grace nodded.

"It might take you a while to get used to the snoring, but you'll manage. At least Joe isn't with us anymore. His snoring almost blew the windows out sometimes."

"Yes, I remember when the bus was first on TV," Grace said, her memory triggered by the mention of Joe. "It was back when The Vega Cartel was a thing."

"That's right," Zelina said a little wistfully. "Those were good times. It was me, Seth, Bayley, Joe and Bobby. OGs right there."

"You clearly miss them," Grace said.

"Yeah. They were both pains in the ass at the time, but I'll never forget when they moved Joe over to Smackdown and we had to part ways. Sad times. He's still over there, but at least it went we'll for him. He's doing a great job as WWE Champion. And Bobby, well, he's living with Lucy Thorne. Can't say I blame him for choosing her private jet and her mansion over our bus." Zelina shook off her moment of reflection, opening a door that she was standing near to. "Anyway, this is the bathroom."

Grace looked inside, seeing a nice shower cubicle, as well as a toilet and a sink.

"It's on a first come, first served basis in the mornings. My advice, get in before the men wreck the place."

"Noted," Grace said seriously. "Speaking of wrecking the place, what happens about keeping the bus clean and stuff?"

"We all pitch in with that, apart from Daga. She gets a pass because she does all the driving."

"Fair enough. I assume you and Seth sleep back there?" Grace asked, looking at a curtain that was pulled across the passageway towards the back end of the bus.

"That's the love nest," Elena called from up at the front.

"You heard the woman," Zelina said with a grin.

Laughing, Grace followed her diminutive new friend back towards the living area. "This is a really awesome bus, guys. Thanks again for letting me join you."

Before anyone had a chance to reply, Seth's voice came from outside the bus, calling out with sarcasm. "Whenever you're ready, Daga. Or we could stand here all night."

Elena went storming down the steps, triggered by his words. "Try loading your own cases," she said heatedly, adding something in Italian that Grace was sure wasn't complimentary.

"Is this always how it is?" Grace asked, smiling in amusement.

"Mostly," Bayley said. "Seth and Roman enjoy riling Daga up. They're quite good at it, as you can tell."

Cases could be heard thudding into the luggage compartment as Roman walked up the steps. He smiled when he saw Grace standing there with the rest of the group. "Hi. Welcome to the mad house."

"Hi, Roman," Grace smiled. "Thanks for letting me join you."

"You're welcome. Nice debut out there tonight."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed. "It wasn't much of a match, but it sure was a rush going out there."

Seth came up the steps next, and more greetings were exchanged. Before long, Elena was pulling the bus out of the parking garage. Grace settled into her chair for her first journey with her new travel companions.

* * *

The journey to the city where the next night's live event would be taking place took just over three hours, including a stop at a supermarket for Grace to fulfil her obligation to stock the bus up with beer for the week. To make a good impression, she had gone the extra mile, also buying some cakes and donuts.

One of the questions she had been considering had been answered when they had parked out for the night. She had been wondering how the security of the bus was guaranteed overnight. Secure parking lots were a thing, she had discovered. You learn something every day, she had thought.

Not long after Elena parked up, Seth and Zelina had made their excuses and headed to their bedroom, if that was the right description for it. Elena and Bayley hadn't been far behind them, leaving Grace and Roman as the last two in the living area. She felt tired, but opted not to go to bed now that she had the chance for a one on one chat with one of the guys she barely knew. The quicker they got the ice broken, the better, she figured. The only problem was that he was busy typing away on his phone, engrossed in what he was doing.

"Sorry," Roman said eventually, putting his phone back in his pocket. "I write to my daughter every night and tell her how the show went," he explained. "It's almost always too late to FaceTime her by the time we get out."

"It must be hard being away from her so much," Grace said sympathetically.

"Yeah," Roman said in a melancholy tone. "We talk every day, but it's not the same. The traveling is a killer in this job, so much time away from home. If you're with someone who's not in the business, you hardly ever see them."

Grace felt a bit awkward, reminded of Roman's recent divorce that was no secret backstage. It seemed obvious to her that he was hurt by it, making it a subject that she was wary of getting into with him. "I've never been in that situation. I can see it being tough for both sides," she said cautiously.

Roman sighed. "It is. I thought we would make it work. You assume it's forever when you're with someone you love, you know? But we drifted apart, largely because of my never being around. We tried to stay together and make it work, even if it was only for Layla's sake, but it wasn't happening."

Grace got up and went to the fridge, fetching another bottle of beer for each of them. She returned to her chair and handed both bottles to Roman so that he could crack the tops off them.

"Listen to me moping to you when we barely know each other," he said, shaking his head. "Sorry. I'm finding it hard to snap out of it lately."

"Don't apologise. It's good to talk about problems when you have them. I'm happy to listen, even if there's not much I can say that is going to help with your situation. I know what loss is like. It can affect you for a long time, in fact it can stay with you forever if you let it."

Roman's eyes widened a bit as he recalled what she was talking about. "Of course, your mom was killed in that plane crash. That must have been awful for you. I can't even imagine."

Just over two years earlier, Grace's mother had been one of ninety-three people who died when their domestic flight had crashed into a field minutes after take-off. The horrifying disaster had been caused by, of all things, a software error that had forced the plane into a dive despite the pilot's attempts to override it and keep the plane in the air.

As an only child, and with her father already dead after suffering a heart attack five years earlier, Grace had received a large sum of money as a compensation pay out from the aircraft manufacturer, not that any amount of money could possibly make up for such a heart-wrenching and senseless loss of life.

"Yes," Grace said with a heavy breath. "I've been thinking about mom a lot tonight. She would have been there to see me make my debut."

"I'm sure she was there," Roman said compassionately.

Taken by surprise herself, Grace burst into tears. She had been doing okay all day, until actually talking about her mom, which had apparently been the final straw needed to bring her emotions to the surface. "I miss her so much," she blubbered. "I lost my mom because some fucking idiot couldn't program a computer properly. How could that happen?"

Roman quickly got up, moved over to her chair and crouched down to give her a hug. "I don't know, Grace. I don't know. Let it all out, come on."

Holding him awkwardly but tightly, Grace cried into his shoulder. Now that she had started, she couldn't stop.

Unbeknownst to her, Bayley quietly approached the living area with a look of concern on her face, having heard the crying. Roman sent her back to bed with an expression that said, 'I've got this.'

"Fuck, I'm sorry," Grace managed to say through her tears. She hated herself for losing it so completely in front of someone she had essentially only just met, dreading to imagine what he thought of her.

"It's alright," Roman said comfortingly, continuing to hold her until she got herself under control. "If nothing else, we can be heartbroken together."


	4. Chapter 4

Whether it was the unfamiliar surroundings, the excitement of her main roster debut, the emotional breakdown she had suffered when thinking about her mother, or a combination of all of those things, Grace's first night on the tour bus had been a pretty sleepless one. She estimated that she might have slept for two hours at the most.

Being on the bottom bunk below Roman wasn't ideal either. She had felt a little closed in, as well as irrationally wondering whether his huge frame was going to fall through his bunk and land on top of her.

The lack of sleep did bring one positive, in that Grace was the first one into the bathroom to take a shower. The water pressure was surprisingly powerful, which she liked, and she indulged herself with more than ten minutes in there.

Refreshed, she stepped out of the small bathroom dressed, with a towel wrapped around her wet hair. Roman was now awake, and was in the galley, making coffee with a machine that had appeared from somewhere. It was now on the small work surface next to the sink. Grace guessed it was stashed in one of the cupboards when the bus was on the road.

"Morning," Bayley said groggily, still under her covers. Elena was either still asleep or wishing she was.

"Morning," Grace said pleasantly before moving through the living area and repeating the same greeting to Roman.

"Good morning. Coffee?" he offered.

"Please," Grace said as she sat down in her chair.

"How did you sleep?"

"Pretty bad, to be honest," Grace admitted. "I think I might have been too worked up after last night. Plus the bunk will take a bit of getting used to."

"In what way? Did you find it uncomfortable?"

"No, not uncomfortable. I felt a little bit claustrophobic is all. I'm sure I'll get used to it."

Roman walked over with two cups of coffee and handed one to her. "Do you think you'd like it better on the top bunk? If so, I'm okay to switch."

"Yeah, I think I would. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all," Roman said, sitting down in his chair. "To tell you the truth I don't know why I didn't move down to that bunk while it was unclaimed. I was only on the top in the first place because I lost a bet with Bobby."

Grace laughed. "Then it's settled. I'll go on top, you go on the bottom."

"Careful who hears you say that," Seth said, entering the galley area behind them.

"Oh god," Grace said, feeling her cheeks warming up.

Roman laughed. "Don't let him embarrass you. He always makes comments like that."

Seth and Grace laughed. "So, what do we do about breakfast?" she asked.

"We wait for everyone to get themselves sorted, then Daga finds us somewhere to eat," Roman said.

"Sounds good. I'm starving."

Roman set his coffee cup down on the floor by his chair and got up. "While the bathroom's empty, I'm going to make my move." He hurried down the bus to the bathroom door, drawing a groan of annoyance from Bayley, who was just getting up.

"Ugh, I was about to go in there," she complained.

"Too slow," Roman said with absolutely no sympathy, disappearing inside and locking the door behind him.

Grace smiled as she sipped her coffee. The group had such a comfortable atmosphere about it that she already felt at home.

Next to enter the living area was Zelina. More good mornings were exchanged, and Seth fixed coffee for the two of them. As they went and settled down on their couch, Bayley walked over to Roman's chair and sat down. She was wearing a large Toy Story t-shirt that came down almost to her knees. Grace found it quite cute.

"Hi, how are you?" Bayley said, a hint of concern in her voice.

"I'm good. You?" Grace said, wondering what was wrong.

"I'm okay. I don't mean to pry, but I heard you crying last night," she said, quietly enough for Seth and Zelina not to hear.

"Yeah, it was a bit much for me with everything that happened. I was missing my mom," Grace said, taking a heavy breath.

"Oh, of course," Bayley said, recalling the back story with the plane crash that had happened while Grace had been a relative newcomer to NXT. "I'm really sorry for your loss. I can understand why it must have been painful last night."

"Thanks, Bayley," Grace said. "I miss her every day. Big days like yesterday are especially tough."

"I get that. I'm sure your mom is very proud of you and everything you've accomplished."

"Thank you. No offense, but can we change the subject? I don't want to get upset again. I'm okay unless I start talking to people about it."

"No problem," Bayley said in her usual upbeat manner. "Just know that if you ever do need to talk, I'm here."

Grace nodded. "I appreciate that."

* * *

Elena had located a restaurant that was open early for breakfast. They only drawback, the group had discovered upon entering, was that tables for four were the biggest they had.

"Not a problem," Roman said to the group. "You guys go ahead. Grace and I will take a different table."

A further inconvenience was the fact that there were no two free tables close to each other, so the group of four found themselves seated near the entrance, while Roman and Grace ended up near the back of the room.

"Busy, isn't it?" Grace asked after they were sat down and had started to look at menus.

"Yeah," Roman said. "Hopefully a sign that the food is good here. To be fair to her, Daga is a master of finding good places for us. I hope you didn't mind me saying the two of us would sit apart from the group?"

Grace lowered her menu and looked him in the eye. "After the way you were there for me last night? Of course I don't mind. I'm just sorry for losing it like that. Someone blubbering on your shoulder was probably the last thing you needed. It all got too much for me when I started talking about mom. Honestly, I feel bad because you were in the middle of talking to me about your daughter before I lost it. How old is she now?"

"She's ten," Roman said proudly. "She's literally the best thing that's ever happened to me. Becoming a parent changes so much about life. I never imagined she'd end up in a broken home, and I feel so bad about that. My ex, Andrea, and I stayed together for a while for Layla's sake, but it became so awkward that it was counter-productive. We decided it was time I moved out. That was by far the toughest day of my life."

Grace shook her head slowly. "I can't begin to imagine. You do get to see her though, right?"

"Yeah, I do. Andrea is good like that. We didn't divorce on bad terms, the marriage just wasn't working. So yeah, I can go over and see Layla whenever I want, so long as I let Andrea know beforehand. They live in Orlando, and I'm back in the small place I bought when I first moved there for NXT, so I also get to have Layla stay over with me whenever I'm home for any decent length of time."

"Which isn't often," Grace imagined sympathetically. The main roster travel schedule was not something she was looking forward to dealing with.

"Which isn't often," Roman agreed. "But I take her swimming, we go to Orlando Magic games, and I'm planning to take her to Tampa for baseball too. She loves sports, so I want to encourage that as much as I can."

Grace smiled at the loving way he spoke about his daughter. She could already tell he was a good dad. "I bet she loves that. You can't beat a baseball game."

"You like it?" Roman asked.

"I do. I've never really followed a team as such, but I love watching games. I've been to see the Rays a few times. It's only an hour so from home."

"Yeah, I've been too. They suck most of the time, but they're our local team. What can you do?" Roman said with a laugh.

"Exactly," Grace said, also laughing. "Hey, if you ever fancy going to a game and need some company, let me know. I've sometimes wanted to go but haven't because none of my friends were interested."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Roman said, clearly meaning it.

The conversation moved on to what to choose from the menu. In this particular establishment, orders had to be placed at the counter. When Grace had decided what she wanted, Roman went up to order for them.

When Roman returned to the table, he found Grace putting money on the table to cover her order. "Keep it," he said, gently pushing it back towards her. "This one's on me."

"Are you sure?" she asked, reluctant to take the money back.

Roman smiled as he sat back down. "Sure. You can pay for our next breakfast if it makes you feel better."

"Alright, deal," Grace said, smiling broadly.

Over the breakfast, they talked about their childhoods. Grace recounted her early years in Canada after having been born there. At the age of eight, her family had moved to New York when her father had landed a high paying sales job in the city. Brooklyn had been her home until she signed for NXT and moved to Orlando.

After hearing Grace's story, Roman told her his own. They were so engrossed in the enjoyable conversation that they lost track of time. It was only when Seth walked over to the table that they realised it was time to leave.

"Ready when you are, guys," Seth said with some amusement.

Roman and Grace quickly got up and joined their friends as they left the restaurant. Grace ended up walking with Zelina at the front of the group of six, while Roman and Seth brought up the rear.

"You two seem to be getting on well," Seth commented. Usually, he was not at all shy of ribbing his best friend, but the subject of romance was one to avoid. Not enough time had passed since Roman's divorce for that topic to be fair game.

"She seems like a very nice girl," Roman said quietly. "She's fully hot, too. That smile blows my mind. But I'm not ready to be involved with anyone. It's all still to raw, if you know what I mean?"

"Of course," Seth said in an understanding tone. "You were with Andrea for so long, I totally get why you wouldn't want to move on quickly. But yeah, Grace is hot. Don't tell Z I said that though."

Roman laughed, as he often did around Seth. "I'll file that away for blackmail use at a later date."


	5. Chapter 5

Discovering what was lined up for The Stone Roses on their second Raw segment had pleased Grace and Zelina. They were going to do an appearance on A Moment of Bliss with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, immediately followed by a match against Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose.

The team known as Fire and Desire had recently taken a face turn, and were involved in a romantic storyline with each other. Working against them was going to be good, Grace thought. Sonya and Mandy had such different styles in the ring that it presented opponents with a lot to of options with regard to what to do during matches. The only down side was the finish that was lined up – Zelina beating Mandy with a roll up. That kind of victory didn't do much to get a new team over.

Grace had mentioned her concern to Zelina, who had agreed. At least there was a possibility that they might be able to get something done about it, for they had been summoned to see Lucy Thorne. People had a lot of positive things to say about the boss, but there was no doubt she was a micromanager. In some ways, that might be considered a good thing, Grace admitted to herself.

"So, we have the four of you tonight in a tag," Lucy said to the competitors, standing in front of her desk, with the four wrestlers standing before her. "I'm thinking about making this a short program between you, possibly finishing with a match at Hell in a Cell."

Grace looked at Sonya and Mandy, unsurprisingly seeing positive reactions on their faces. A pay-per-view match would be good for them too, helping to build on their face turn and their new angle.

"As for tonight, first things first, we've got a new entrance theme sorted out for you. I'm talking new graphics and new theme music," Lucy said, looking at Grace and Zelina.

"Awesome, thank you," Zelina said. She was the one who had made that request after Raw the previous week.

"You're welcome. So, you're going to do Moment of Bliss, with Alexa stirring the pot as only she can."

There were a few chuckles from the group. Alexa Bliss was the best shit stirrer in WWE, that was for sure. It also helped that she and Nikki Cross were the current Women's Tag Team Champions, meaning that it was in their interest to put other teams at each other's throats, keeping attention away from themselves.

Lucy looked at Grace and Zelina again. "You will rise to the bait, saying you'll show what you can do against any tag team who wants to come out and face you."

"And that's where we come in," Sonya said.

"Correct. Ladies, I know taking a loss this soon after I promised you I was going to push you isn't ideal, but this was the only way to get you on TV this week. Zelina and Grace need the win because if they lost only their second match together it would be damaging."

"We're fine with losing, but if we're going to put them over, why don't we actually put them over?" Mandy said. "What's the point of having a roll up for the finish? That does nothing for anyone. They gain virtually nothing, and we look like garbage. I'd rather take that new finisher, the.." Searching for the name, she looked at Zelina and Grace.

"Heart of Stone," Zelina said.

"The Heart of Stone," Mandy said to Lucy. "Can't I take that and lose?"

Grace hadn't spoken, but she liked what she was hearing. She hadn't worked much with Mandy so far. If this willingness to do good business was anything to judge by, she was going to enjoy doing it.

"Alright, that makes sense," Lucy said, showing the admirable quality of being willing to listen to her wrestlers and take their suggestions on-board. "We'll go with that. Work something out and use the Heart of Stone for the finish. Okay, that'll do, unless there's anything else?"

"Nothing, thank you," Sonya said on behalf of her team.

"Thanks, guys, we appreciate it," Zelina said to Mandy and Sonya, before nodding her thanks to the boss and heading for the door.

Grace followed her partner's lead, until she was stopped in her tracks.

"Grace, just a minute," Lucy said.

As the other three wrestlers left the office, Grace turned around, worried about why she might have been singled out by Lucy. She hadn't even said anything, so what could she have done wrong?

The office door was clicked shut. A smile appeared on Lucy's face. "You didn't say a word during that conversation, Grace. You were standing there looking like you wanted not to be noticed. You're on the main roster because you deserve to be here as much as anyone else who is. Find your confidence, and act like you belong."

Managing a smile in return, Grace cursed herself for giving that impression. She wasn't usually a timid person. Now that her silence had been pointed out, she wished she had said something, anything, to make her presence known. "I will," she promised, at least happy with how determined she had sounded.

"Good. Send Becky to see me, please."

"Will do. Thanks, Lucy," Grace said.

Leaving the office, Grace found Zelina waiting for her a short distance along the hallway. Waiting was the action of a good tag team partner.

"You good?" Zelina asked.

"I'm good, just pissed at myself," Grace said, resisting the temptation to kick a nearby equipment case.

"Yeah, that's my bad," Zelina said apologetically, falling in step beside her partner. "Before we went in there, I should have said to make sure you contributed something. Thorne's a strong person. She likes to see the same thing from other people. Word is she wasn't impressed with her first few conversations with Dana Brooke, now look where she is."

"Can't remember the last time she was on TV," Grace said thoughtfully. Now it made more sense why Mandy had spoken up back in the office. She looked at her partner and showed gratitude for the advice with a smile. "Thanks, Zelina."

"Sure. Please start calling me Zel, or Z. It's much more comfortable."

"You got it," Grace promised. Looking at Zelina had given her an idea. They hadn't been to makeup yet, meaning that Zelina's natural curly hair had not been straightened. The curly hair was actually a great look for her, and since Grace also had curly hair, she thought it might look good if both of The Stone Roses went with it on-screen. She pitched the idea and her reasoning to Zelina.

"I can see your logic," Zelina replied hesitantly. "Honestly, I'm not confident about going out there like this."

"Girl, why?" Grace exclaimed. "You look badass with your curls, and hot as hell, too. You should totally try it."

"You really think so?" Zelina asked, giving a smile that betrayed some nerves.

"Absolutely I think so. You know what else I think? I think it would go over great with the audience. There would be a unique vibe to our team. Let's be honest, there will those out there who think The Stone Roses is Thorne throwing shit at a wall and hoping it sticks. It's up to us to get ourselves over."

Zelina clicked her fingers. "Now that's the kind of attitude we need. That would have impressed Thorne, too. Maybe not telling her she's throwing shit at a wall, but that passion. Alright, you've talked me into it. I'm not going to have my hair straightened tonight. Let's see how we look together once we're in our ring attire."

* * *

A couple of hours later, after Grace and Zelina had both finished their sessions with WWE's Glam Squad and changed into their ring attire, they stood together and asked Bayley what she thought of their appearance.

"You look badass!" Bayley exclaimed. Voices of general agreement came from around the locker room.

"Perhaps get some ring attire that co-ordinates a bit better," Charlotte Flair said. She was over on Raw for a special appearance that night. Her comment was delivered as encouragement, not negativity.

"Yes, that's a good idea," Grace said, nodding.

"Apart from that, I think we've found the look for The Stone Roses," Charlotte smiled.

Grace looked at Zelina, feeling blessed to have been partnered with her. Whether Lucy Thorne had been throwing shit at the wall or not, Grace liked the result a lot. The more she got into The Stone Roses, the more potential she felt they had.

* * *

"Welcome to A Moment of Bliss," Alexa Bliss said to open the latest edition of her talk show. She had a beaming smile on her face, a cup of coffee in hand, tag team title belt on her lap, and Nikki Cross sitting beside her.

"Please welcome, the latest addition to the WWE women's tag team division, The Stone Roses!" Alexa said, motioning towards the stage entrance with a flourish.

There was almost no reaction to the fairly generic new entrance music, Grace heard. Oh well, she thought. The crowd had been pretty dead for most of the night. It happened sometimes. There was also the fact that no one had much of a reason to boo The Stone Roses as yet.

Walking out on the stage with Zelina, Grace made sure to wear a look of thinly concealed contempt on her face, both for the fans and for the Tag Team Champions.

Two white chairs were arranged opposite Alexa and Nikki, a microphone placed on each, ready for the guests. Zelina took one seat, leaving Grace to occupy the other.

"Welcome," Alexa said with faux sincerity. "Zelina, Grace, we saw you form The Stone Roses last week, going on to claim a victory over The IIconics. But tell me, why should Nikki and I take you seriously?" She looked first at Zelina. "I mean, you're a manager." Alexa looked at Grace, her condescending grin getting bigger. "And you? I don't even know who you are."

"You don't know who I am," Grace said, talking like she was taking the insult in her stride. Her tone then became more threatening. "Well, Alexa, while you were sat at home recovering from Ronda Rousey treating your head like a basketball, I guess you weren't watching NXT. Because if you had been, you would have seen Grace Stone holding the NXT Women's Championship. Something that you never did, by the way."

The crowd gave an 'ooohhh' at the fiery comeback, while Alexa reacted with a nasty sneer. "Oh, the NXT Women's Championship," she scoffed. "I am a five time Women's Champion on the main roster, not the little leagues."

"Enough!" Zelina snapped. "Alexa, we only agreed to be on your garbage little talk show because we have a simple message for you. We don't give a damn what championships you've won in the past, we care about the one you have now. It's not going to be tonight, but we are going to come for the Women's Tag Team Championships, you can trust me on that."

"Forgive me for not looking scared," Alexa said, looking at Nikki and rolling her eyes.

Nikki sipped her coffee, enjoying the exchange.

"Zelina, I'm sorry to be the one to point it out to you," Alexa lied, "But you've only had one match. You're going to have to do more than that to start worrying Nikki and I."

Grace rose to that challenge. "Okay, you want to see something to worry about? We're going to go to the ring right now and face the first team with the guts to come out and take us on. Watch what we do to them."

"You'll need a heart of stone not to enjoy it," Zelina said evilly.

Great line, Grace thought as she got up to head to the ring, The Stone Roses' music playing again. She was pleased with her part in the promo. As ever, Alexa had been perfect for her guests to bounce off of.

After a commercial break, Mandy and Sonya came to the ring. The match went off without a hitch, ending with the Heart of Stone, Grace getting the pin on Mandy with the bridging German suplex.

A bit of a groan of disappointment was the only reaction from the crowd when the referee got the three count. Grace celebrated her team's second important win, however she wasn't totally happy.

"We need heat," she said to Zelina when they had left the ring. If there was a positive, it was the fact that Zelina was good at getting people to hate her. At one time, as the leader of The Vega Cartel, she had been one of the most despised people in wrestling.

"It will come," Zelina assured her. "We need to establish ourselves first, then we'll go to the next level."

I hope you're right, Grace thought.


	6. Chapter 6

An invite from Roman Reigns to go to a baseball game with him had come as a nice surprise to Grace. She had now been part of the group on the tour bus for several weeks, during which time The Stone Roses had competed in their first pay-per-view match – a loss to Fire and Desire. She and Zelina had at least gotten some heat by beating down their victorious opponents after the match.

Due to the dynamics of the group on the bus, Seth and Zelina spent a lot of time with each other, with Elena and Bayley doing the same. It often left Grace and Roman with plenty of time to talk and get to know each other.

Interest in various sports was something they had discovered they had in common. Baseball in particular was talked about quite a bit, and they had even watched a couple of games on TV when the rare opportunity had presented itself on nights where they stayed in hotels instead of on the bus. Sometimes distances between shows from one day to the next were too great for the bus to cover, forcing the group to revert to the more traditional model of plane flights and hotel rooms. On those occasions, they would arrange a time and place to reunite with Elena and the bus.

While watching the ball games, Grace and Roman had shared drinks, laughs, and stories of all kinds. There was no doubt that a friendship had formed between them. A couple of times, Grace had found part of herself wanting to take things further. Roman was strong, handsome, at times quite rugged-looking. They were both single, but there was the issue of his divorce, which she well knew was still painful for him. With him still carrying that baggage, it would not be right for her to try and make a move on him. Doing so might even spoil the friendship they were forming, she realised.

So, feeling no extra special need to impress, Grace dressed casually ahead of Roman picking her up to go to the game, one of the last of the current season. She was wearing blue jeans and a maroon hoodie. The hoodie didn't look great, but it was one of her favourite things to wear.

Outside, Grace heard the throaty purr of a powerful car engine. She was standing in her kitchen, waiting for Roman's arrival. He was a few minutes late, likely due to traffic. Walking over to the window, she looked out and saw some kind of expensive-looking sports car pulling up to the curb directly outside. The car was black, with two white stripes running the length of it. She had no idea what it was, but she liked the look of it. What she did know was that Roman had to be the driver.

Not wanting to bother with a bag of any kind, Grace checked her pockets for her phone, keys and money. She was all set.

Moments later, she was walking down her short driveway. The driver's side of the car was closest to Grace. Roman had his window down to greet her, and she smiled broadly at him. "Hey! Nice ride!"

"Thanks," Roman said with a laugh. "All set to watch some top quality baseball?"

"No. We're going to see the Rays," Grace said, giggling as she walked around to the passenger side.

"Savage, Grace," Roman said with amusement when she opened the door and got in.

"Calling it like it is," she shrugged. "Who knows, maybe we'll bring them some good luck?"

"They're only playing the Orioles. How much luck can they need?" Roman asked. They both laughed as he raised his window back up. With that done, he slowly pulled away from the curb.

"This is a very nice car," Grace said, looking around the luxurious two seat interior. Even at this low speed, she could tell by the purr of the engine that it had a hell of a lot of power. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's a Ford GT, 2006 model. They've brought a newer version out these past couple of years, but it was one of these I wanted," Roman said. "I figured two seats is the most I'm likely to use these days, so I went for it and bought it a month or so back. Considering its age, it's in fantastic condition."

"I can see that," Grace said admiringly, looking around the car once more. She hadn't missed the reference to Roman's divorce. It never seemed to be far from his thinking. That was understandable, she supposed.

"There's a hotdog with my name on it when we get there, the biggest one they have," Roman said.

"A big dog for the Big Dog," Grace said with a big, cheesy grin.

Roman winced theatrically at the truly awful joke. "That's horrendous. But yeah, the biggest dog there is, covered in mustard. I can't wait!"

"Mustard?" Grace cried. "How can you put mustard on a dog? Now that really is horrendous. The only way to take a dog is with chilli."

Roman eyed her warily. "Where did Thorne find you from?"

They both laughed, having a great time already. Roman turned the car onto a main road and gave it some gas. The machine gratified him with a throaty roar, and Grace felt the acceleration briefly push her back into her seat.

"Why am I thinking it's not going to take us an hour to get there?" she asked, putting a bit of dryness into her voice.

"Because it won't," Roman replied, giving the car another squirt of gas to make it through an intersection before the light went red.

* * *

In the end, it had taken Roman and Grace over an hour to get to Tropicana Field, only because of bad traffic near to the stadium.

The journey seemed to have flown by for Grace. They way she and Roman chatted and joked around with such ease was more befitting people who had been friends for years, not weeks. The truth of it was that they had clicked from minute one, when she had burst into tears thinking about her mom and Roman had comforted her.

"Here's your ticket," Roman said, handing her a print out of a pdf ticket that would have been emailed to him. They were waiting in line to go through the metal detector and security check routine to get into the stadium.

So far, Roman hadn't been recognised by anyone. Grace wondered how long that would last, feeling glad that it wasn't a problem she had to deal with, at least not yet. Dressed in a smart casual style with dark blue pants and a light blue shirt, Roman looked incredibly smooth, in her opinion.

"Thank you," Grace smiled, shaking off that thought and looking for a price on the ticket. "What do I owe you for it?" she asked.

"You don't. This is my treat."

"Oh, thank you!" Grace said, her smile broadening. "That's really kind of you. I'll tell you what, I'll get the hotdogs when we get inside. Chilli on yours, right?"

"Not if you want me to eat it," he said, grinning.

Grace laughed as she was beckoned forward to put her possessions in a little plastic box before walking through the metal detector. She passed through without incident and collected her things on the other side.

Behind her, Roman walked through the metal detector. It bleeped, presumably in error.

"That's my metal hip," he said to Grace deadpan.

It was a stupid comment, but for some reason it tickled Grace. The fact that the man with the metal detector wand thing started waving it around Roman's hip area only made it funnier, and she burst out laughing, having to walk away from him.

By the time they had both had their tickets scanned, she was still laughing.

"It wasn't that funny," Roman said, laughing himself because of her laughter.

"I'm crying," she said, wiping her eyes. Taking a couple of deep breaths helped her to regain her composure.

"We're this way," Roman said, starting walking in the direction of the section that their seats were in.

They both knew better than to go to the first kiosk they came to for their food and drink. So many people seemed to do that, forming huge line, while there was almost no one at the next kiosk along.

"Okay, hotdog time," Grace said, approaching one of the women serving. "Two large hotdogs, please, one with chilli, one with mustard."

"Chilli on a hotdog," Roman muttered beside her, shaking his head in contempt of her preference.

"Rome, you're allowed to be wrong about hotdogs. I'm not going to hold it against you. I bet you're a pineapple on pizza person too?"

"You don't like pineapple on pizza?" he exclaimed. "Okay, I'm out of here." He pretended to turn and walk away, making Grace laugh again.

"What are you drinking?" she asked.

"Better stick with Coke," he replied.

"Can I get two large Cokes as well, please?" Grace called out to the woman who was fixing the hotdogs.

A couple of minutes later, they resumed their journey to their seats, now carrying their food and drink.

Grace soon discovered that Roman had bought them good seats, only a few rows back, almost in line with first base. She almost made a joke about going to first base, but decided to leave it.

"Yeah, I think we're set here," she said instead, trying to get comfortable on her seat.

"I'm used to getting seats near first," Roman said, putting drink carefully on the floor. "Layla loves to make the calls herself, whether people are safe or out."

"Aww, how sweet," Grace gushed.

"There's this look she gets on her face if she calls one wrong, it's so funny," Roman said.

Grace was tempted to say she would like to meet Layla, but she wasn't sure if it was appropriate. Making a start on her hotdog covered her lack of response.

"It's a shame this place is a dump and there's never any atmosphere," Roman said after a moment.

"Yeah," Grace agreed. "Well, if we get the chance when we're on the road, we could try and get to games at other stadiums."

"That's a really good idea," Roman said after starting his own hotdog. "It would be like a tour, trying to see how many stadiums we can get to. I could send pictures and videos to Layla. She would love that."

"Sounds like a plan then," Grace said, happy that her idea had gone over well.

* * *

A Rays victory by six to two had made the game an enjoyable experience for Roman and Grace. It was one of the most enjoyable evenings out that she'd had in a long time, which made her feel sad when they arrived back at her house. She didn't want the night to end. What the hell, she decided, it didn't have to end yet if they didn't want it to.

Roman pulled his car up to the curb outside her house. "Thanks for coming with me, Grace. I really enjoyed it."

"Come in for a coffee, or something stronger," she offered, looking at him and studying his eyes for his reaction.

"I can't really drink anything. Got to drive home," he said, clearly wavering over whether to go into the house.

"One drink won't hurt," Grace said, trying to persuade him.

Roman considered it for a moment before making a decision. "Alright, I'll come in for one."

"Great," Grace smiled. "Park on my driveway."

Roman pulled the car onto the driveway, killed the engine, and they both got out.

"I can't stay for more than one," Roman repeated as Grace unlocked her front door.

She turned and smiled at him as she pushed the door open. "I know."


	7. Chapter 7

Well, that happened, Grace thought. Having just woken up, she was lying there looking at the back of Roman Reigns' head. He was quietly snoring, sound asleep. If her own thumping head was anything to judge by, he had a hangover waiting for him when he woke.

A headache and a bit of nausea were the least of Grace's concerns. One drink, that was what she had offered to entice him into the house. What made her feel bad was that she hadn't at any point wanted it to be one drink. She had continued lying to herself, saying she wasn't going to look at Roman in a romantic way, that it wasn't right to do so when he was still getting over a divorce.

The simple fact was that after spending the evening with him at the ball game, she had craved him; craved the feeling of his huge hands on her body; craved the feeling of his tongue in her mouth; graved a thorough fucking the likes of which she hadn't had in a long time. And boy had Roman delivered all of that, after one had turned into two, and drinks had turned into bottles of wine.

Stupid bitch, Grace raged at herself. How had she not been able to control herself better than that? Now there was a real possibility that when Roman woke up, he would regret what had happened, and their friendship would not be the same, if it survived at all.

If there was anything in her favour, it was the fact that Roman had definitely seemed like he was into her. It felt like more than a drunken fool around. The lovemaking had been passionate, maybe even a little frantic. Had he been lusting after her the way she had been after him?

Moving carefully, Grace got out of the bed and walked groggily into her en-suite bathroom. There was a temptation to try and be sick, but she decided to resist. Sitting on the toilet to relieve herself, her head continued to pound. She angrily asked herself why she hadn't just given him a peck on the cheek and let him go home when they had gotten to her place? It was too late for that now though.

When Grace walked out of the bathroom, she found Roman waking up, turning over in the bed to face her direction. The sound of her flushing the toilet and washing her hands had probably woken him.

"Hey," Roman croaked, his throat apparently dry. He cleared it and tried again, with better results. "Hey. That was quite a night."

It was a huge relief to Grace. He wasn't mad. He wasn't jumping out of the bed, wanting to flee as quickly as possible in regret.

"Yeah, how about those Rays?" she joked softly, referring to the baseball game they had been to.

"Six to two, not as big a win as I got last night."

Oh my, Grace thought. His tone told her that he wanted more. It was further emphasised when he pushed the cover on her side of the bed back, welcoming her in with him.

"Are you sure this is the right thing?" she had to ask.

"Yes," he said with certainty. "I understand why you're asking. You're worried that this is me doing something I'll end up thinking was stupid because I'm trying to deal with my divorce. That's not what this is. You blow my mind, Grace. That smile could kill me dead, I swear. And I've never connected with someone so fast as I have with you, never. I've felt such a connection with you since we met, and I know you feel the same. Last night was incredible, and I'm not hungover enough to forget how right it felt."

"Neither am I," Grace replied, getting back into bed. "I was trying to deny my feelings for you..."

"Now you don't have to," he cut in. "It's fast, but it doesn't feel fast, not at all. I'm totally into whatever this is, or might be, between us."

Grace gently put a hand on his cheek. "I know what I'd like it to be. I don't want to do friends with benefits."

"I wasn't thinking of friends with benefits," he assured her.

"We can take it at whatever pace is comfortable," she said.

"Layla is the only concern I have," Roman said. "She's only ten. Dad being with another woman would be a lot for her to deal with this quickly. She hasn't properly come to terms with me moving out yet."

"I absolutely understand that, and I'm certainly not looking to push myself into Layla's life. Going into dating you, I know that she will always be your top priority, and rightfully so."

"That means a lot to me, Grace."

"Then kiss me," she ordered.

Roman wasn't going to argue with her. They were soon making love for the second time. Luckily for them, Grace had kept a couple of condoms in her nightstand after finishing with the last guy she had dated.

The sex was passionate again, in a way that made Grace feel like she was being loved, not simply fucked. Roman was an attentive and experienced lover. It was something she looked forward to getting used to.

* * *

When Roman left to head home that evening, having sobered up enough to drive legally and safely, Grace found herself standing in her kitchen, feeling a strange combination of happiness and loneliness. Living by herself had never bothered her before, but now the place seemed to feel a lot emptier without Roman than it ever had before.

She had just watched Roman back out of her driveway and pull off in his gorgeous Ford GT from her kitchen window. A couple of minutes went by as she felt strangely unwilling to move. It was an odd sensation, as if doing so would somehow make her feel further away from Roman.

When she did turn around, her eyes lingered on the stack of clean plates and dishes in the drainer next to the sink. Roman had washed them for her while she had tidied the living room and mopped the laminate floors. "Now there's a keeper," she said to herself with a smile.

Walking back into the living room, Grace picked up her phone from the coffee table. To ward off the unpleasant feeling of loneliness, she decided to call someone and tell them the news that she was now dating someone. It was at times like this that she missed her mom even more than usual. The option of making that call was not there, and it really hurt.

There was a WhatsApp message from Zelina Vega waiting to be read. Grace left it that way for now. A friendship was forming between her and her teammate, but not to the point where Grace would tell her she had slept with Roman. It would likely be a while before that much trust was built up.

Only one name was on Grace's mind as she opened up her list of contacts. She found the name she wanted and dialled the number, hoping that her friend wasn't at work. There was never any way to tell. The schedule of a junior attorney was almost as ridiculous as that of a wrestler, Grace thought, listening to unanswered rings.

Just when Grace expected to be sent to voicemail, the call was answered.

"Grace! Hi!"

Grace heard traffic in the background. Her friend was somewhere outside. "Clem! Where are you?"

"Literally just walked out of the office," Clementine Everett said. "Yes, I know it's late. Got to put the hours in if I ever want to get promoted."

Grace chuckled at her friend of two years. They had met through a mutual friend, and had gone on to become 'besties', as they described it. "I hope they appreciate your commitment," she said.

"Debateable, but I'm going to keep on," Clementine said. Grace heard a door close, and the traffic noise was gone. Clem had gotten into her car. "Where are you? On the road somewhere, or still at home?"

"I'm at home, back on the road tomorrow. I was wondering if you wanted to come over, but don't worry since you've only just finished work."

"Don't be silly," Clem said. "I've got nothing waiting at home for me apart from the final season of Game of Thrones. No, I still haven't finished it yet. I'll come over now. With traffic, I'll be about twenty minutes."

"Great!" Grace exclaimed. "I'll order us some food in if you like? I haven't eaten all day."

"Sounds amazing. How about Chinese?"

"I could go for Chinese."

They discussed what to order, then Grace hung up the phone and called her favourite Chinese place that offered a delivery service. They told her that her delivery would take about half an hour.

"Perfect, thank you," Grace said before hanging up.

While she waited for Clementine to arrive, Grace realised that she had no wine to offer. She and Roman had drunk both of the bottles she'd had the previous night. Maybe that was a good thing, she thought. That morning's hangover had put her off wine anyway.

The delivery driver with the food was actually the first to arrive, just under half an hour after Grace had put in the order. She figured Clementine had been delayed, probably by traffic somewhere, so she took the food into the kitchen and plated it up.

With perfect timing, the doorbell sounded at the exact moment when Grace dumped the empty packaging in the trash.

Hurrying out of the kitchen, she opened her front door and found Clementine standing there. She was an African-American woman, a year younger than Grace at thirty. As usual, she had her short, wavy, dark brown hair fixed in a couple of little pig tails. It was a slightly odd look for an attorney, but it worked for Clem. She had a smart black suit on, and most noticeably for Grace, a bottle of wine in her hand. It was hard not to wince.

"I stopped off to get this," Clem said with a smile, brandishing the bottle. "I could use a drink with the hours I've been working lately."

Grace smiled broadly, happy to see her friend and amused by the comment. "Come in! The food just arrived."

Clementine walked in, Grace closed the door, and they headed through to the kitchen.

"Mmm that smells amazing," Clem said, eyeing the food that was ready and waiting for her. She was welcome and familiar enough in Grace's house to know where the wine glasses were kept. She took two out of the cupboard, while Grace picked up the two meals.

"Working on anything interesting?" Grace asked.

"Interesting? No. Just time consuming," Clem grumbled as they headed through to the living room, both content to eat off their laps. "I'm the junior, so I get all of the garbage to deal with."

"That won't last forever," Grace said sympathetically.

In the living room, they sat down beside each other on the couch. Grace tucked straight into her meal, letting Clem handle opening the wine bottle and pouring for both of them.

"So, how about you? How's the main roster treating you?" Clem asked.

Grace took her glass of wine and put it on her end of the coffee table. "Thanks. Yeah, things are going well. I know you saw the pay-per-view match I had. Hopefully I'll make a decent bonus for that."

"I hope so," Clem said, carefully loading up her fork. "You and the girl you team with make a great pair. You have a distinctive look about you, and you come across pretty badass when you beat up the other two."

"Zelina's great," Grace said fondly. "She's got a serious amount of experience. I know I do too, but you can always learn from other people." She paused for a second. "I do have some news."

"Oh?" Clem enquired, raising an eyebrow while chewing a mouthful of food.

"I'm, uh, I've started dating someone."

"Oh! Who?" Clem said excitedly.

"Roman Reigns," Grave revealed, a smile breaking out on her face. She knew that Clem would know who Roman was, even with her limited knowledge of wrestling.

"No!" Clem cried. "Grace! He's fucking stunning. His body is mind-blowing, and that hair..." She let her voice trail off.

"I know! And he's so good in bed. I've never had sex like it."

"You've slept with him? Girl, I didn't even know you were dating him!"

"I wasn't, not really. It's complicated. We were spending a lot of time together as friends. Although I was attracted to him, I was cautious because he's not been divorced all that long. We went to Tampa for a baseball game last night, then we came back here. We had a bit of a drink, then stuff happened. We talked this morning, and both agreed that we want to keep seeing each other. Or start seeing each other. Either way, we're officially dating."

Clementine sat there for a moment, thoughtfully eating.

"Say what you're thinking," Grace encouraged her.

"All I'm thinking is be careful. You've had a few bad experiences with guys. I don't want you to get hurt again, so make sure this one is the right one before you get serious."

It was a fair point, Grace had to admit. Her record with dating over the past couple of years was poor. She had dated several guys, none of them for long, as they had turned out not to treat her particularly well. That was a concern she didn't have about Roman.

"This one's different, Clem. Roman isn't like that at all. You couldn't hope to meet a nicer guy. His marriage failed because of his schedule with WWE, not because of anything he did wrong."

"Okay," Clem smiled. "Just take it steady, that's my advice."

Grace nodded seriously, taking it on-board. She appreciated her best friend's concern, even if she didn't think it was needed. "Thanks. I will."


	8. Chapter 8

Leaving for a two week circuit was a mixed bag of emotions for Grace. On one hand, being on the road for two weeks was going to be a serious drag. However, that was more than offset by the fact that she was meeting Roman at the airport.

It had been more than a day since she had seen him, when he had departed her house after staying the night, and most of the next day. Even though they had messaged each other a lot, going a day without seeing him had been awful. It couldn't have been avoided though, for he had spent the day with Layla. When he had told Grace about what a great time they'd had, it had truly warmed her heart.

Approaching the terminal entrance at Orlando's airport, Grace told herself to keep herself under control. Seth and Zelina were joining her and Roman for the flight out to Raw. She had already gotten a message from Zelina to say that the three of them were there waiting for her, so she could hardly throw herself at Roman at first sight, even though she wanted to.

Walking into the terminal, she could see no sign of her man - that was a strange and exciting thought - or her friends. Checking her phone, Grace saw that a WhatsApp message had come in from Roman a few minutes ago.

We've gone for coffee, usual place. I'll get you a chilli dog if I can. x

Grace's eyes lingered on the 'x' for a moment, and she smiled. It was the first time Roman had ended a message in that manner. The chilli dog line amused her, since she knew full well that the coffee place they frequented didn't sell hotdogs.

Pulling her case along behind her, Grace walked to the coffee shop. Entering, she found Seth and Zelina sitting opposite each other at a table for four, leaving her to sit opposite Roman. That was perfectly fine with her. There was a coffee ready and waiting for her on the table.

"Hey!" Zelina called out, seeing her walk in.

Roman turned around to look at her, and the smile he gave could have melted her heart.

"Hi, guys. How are you all?" Grace asked, approaching the table. The group's cases were stashed behind Seth and Zelina's chairs, so she added her own to the collection.

"Doing good," Zelina said. "Got you a coffee. You're easy to order for, you always get the same thing."

"Got to have my Mocha," Grace chuckled as she sat down. Mindful that she wasn't going to let on about having spent time with Roman during the few days off, she looked at the two men across from her and asked, "How are you guys?"

"Yeah, good," Seth said, not elaborating. His attention was on savouring his coffee.

"I'm good too. Spent the day with Layla yesterday," Roman said.

"Oh! How is she?" Grace asked. The pretence was weird. She felt like it would get old very quickly.

"She's great, thank you. How was your weekend?"

"Good," Grace said, smiling partially at the fact that he knew she was thinking about their night together, and she knew he was thinking about it. "I had a girlfriend over for Chinese takeout and a bottle of wine last night. It was a nice catch-up. Now back to the grind."

"You know that," Seth muttered, showing Grace that she wasn't the only one not thrilled about being away from home for two weeks.

With that, the group settled into the usual comfortable conversation. Only Grace noticed the slight element of mischief in Roman's eyes, for good reason. She was the only one he intended to notice it.

* * *

Sitting next to Roman on a flight was nothing unusual for Grace. It was a routine they had been in for the past few weeks as friends, before there had been any romance between them. That was good, as it would not look out of the ordinary to anyone, she found herself thinking.

Grace was already starting to feel tired of thinking like that. She wasn't the kind of person who sought the approval of others when it came to her personal life. It would be something to talk to Roman about once they were in the air.

Before they got that far, there was the take-off to deal with. As she settled into her seat, which always had to be on the aisle, she felt her stomach knotting up. Ever since her mother's tragic death, taking-off in a plane had terrified her. It was only once the seatbelt light went off and she was sure she was safe that she could relax, at least to an extent.

"I missed you," Roman said quietly, sitting with his head close to hers.

"I missed you too. Can we talk when we're in the air?" she pleaded, her voice tight with worry.

"Of course. Grace, we'll be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen," he said, doing his best to help her. It did make a difference, albeit a small one.

Shortly, the plane began backing away from the gate. The taxi to the end of the runway took a few minutes. By then, Grace's heart was pounding. She had never had a panic attack, but she felt like the start of every flight took her at least halfway there.

"Hold my hand," she demanded, grabbing Roman's hand before he actually had a say in the matter. She held it in her lap, drawing strength from holding it.

The plane rolled onto the runway. Apparently take-off clearance had already been given, as the pilot immediately throttled up the engines. Hearing the roar of the engines and feeling the acceleration, Grace closed her eyes tightly, hating every second of it.

The plane thundered along the runway, left the ground, and banked around to the left in a textbook perfect take-off run. Grace could only tell any of that by feeling. She outright refused to open her eyes until she heard the ding noise which signified the seat belt light turning up.

A couple of minutes later, the ding finally came. Grace opened her eyes and let out a deep breath. "Thank god that's over."

"Are you okay?" Roman asked compassionately.

Grace knew she probably looked ridiculous to him every time they sat together on a flight, but he had never mentioned it. "Yes, I think I'm okay now," she said, giving him a thankful smile.

"Could I maybe get my hand back?" he asked, his voice quite gentle.

"Oh," Grace said in surprise. She had forgotten she was holding it. Looking down, she let go of his huge hand. She could quite clearly see white finger marks on his dark skin, so tightly had she been hanging on to him. It had to have been painful for him, but he hadn't said anything or tried to move. "Sorry, I..."

"Sorry nothing. If you need to crush my hand every time we fly, you go ahead and crush it."

Grace felt extraordinarily touched by that. It showed her that he truly cared; that he truly wanted to be there when she needed him. It was exactly what she hadn't gotten from her last few brief, failed relationships.

"You okay?" Roman asked, concerned that she hadn't said anything.

Grace looked at him, into his beautiful eyes. "Yes, I'm okay " she said, smiling at him. "I'm thankful for you being there for me."

"Well, we said we were going to make a go of this. Being away from you all day yesterday hammered home how into you I am. With that being said, being there for you is what I should do, as you should for me."

"You're right. And I will. I will be there for you, I mean."

"I believe that," Roman said seriously.

In that moment Grace wanted to kiss him. To her own annoyance, she held back. Knowing that there were wrestlers scattered around the plane, there was the possibility that someone might look at them and see the kiss. Another part of her didn't care, thinking that it was no one else's business what she did.

"Rome, you know what's bugging me?" she asked in frustration.

"What?"

"That I feel like I'm second guessing everything I'm doing around you. Like, I walked into that coffee shop and pretended you were just my friend. I pretended I hadn't seen you over the weekend. I wanted to kiss you just now, but I stopped myself in case someone was looking. That's wrong, isn't it?"

Roman responded with feeling. "Grace, if you want to kiss me, do it. I've got nothing to hide, least of all a wonderful, sexy girl like you. The thing I've not really explained it that, yes, it's true that my divorce didn't go through until recently, but Andrea and I were both checked out of the marriage before that. I'm done being lonely and unhappy. I want to be happy, and I know you do too. We both deserve it."

"Oh my god I agree with that so much. But what if people start judging us over it? What about the guys on the bus?"

"I'd trust anyone on that bus with my life," Roman said, completely serious. "They're the best group of friends you could ever want. There will be no judgement or gossiping from them, I can promise you that. Besides, they've all been in the same situation. Seth and Zelina hit it off soon after she started managing him. They kept it quiet for a while. The same with Bayley and Daga."

"Fair enough," Grace said, happy to hear that their situation was less out of the ordinary than she had first thought. "But what about everyone else?"

Roman paused for a moment, looking like he was trying to decide how best to put what he wanted to say into words. "You're on the main roster now, Grace. Things are different for you, even if you don't realise it yet. It's nothing against you if you don't realise it, it took me a couple of years to really get it. The fact is, no matter what you do now, there will be people in the locker room, and countless thousands of fans around the world, all ready to scrutinise everything you do, wanting a reason to tear you down. It shouldn't be that way, but it is."

Grace knew that Roman had literally spent years dealing with unwarranted abuse from fans over the way he had been used by WWE in Vince McMahon's last couple of years before Lucy Thorne had taken over. "So, how do you deal with it?" she asked.

"I learned to ignore it. I found happiness in enjoying my wrestling despite the abuse, and I rose above those in the locker room who acted like assholes towards me. Living my life my way, doing my job to the best of my ability, that's how I stayed happy and positive. It still is."

Grace took his hand, admiring what he had said, and seeing the logic in it. "You're saying we should just date each other and say balls to anyone who has a problem with it."

"Absolutely that's what I'm saying. We're both single people getting into a relationship with each other. There's nothing wrong with it at all."

He's right, Grace thought. Why should they alter the way they lived to try and suit other people's opinions? To hell with it, she decided, she was going to live the way she wanted, including enjoying her new relationship. "Do you think we should start by telling everyone later?" she asked, meaning their friends on the bus.

"I'm happy to do that if you are," Roman said.

Grace smiled happily and squeezed his hand. "Yes, let's do it. Actually, I'm kind of looking forward to it."

"Me too," Roman said with a smile of his own.


	9. Chapter 9

"This time, I'm going to make sure I say something," Grace said to Zelina. They were approaching Lucy Thorne's office, having been summoned there to discuss what was next for The Stone Roses after their short run with Fire and Desire. Grace was mindful of the gentle warning she had gotten from the boss last time after not contributing to the conversation. Being a shrinking violet was not appreciated to say the least.

"Good idea," Zelina said. "Come on, let's see what she's got lined up for us."

Taking the initiative, Grace reached Thorne's office door first and gave it a confident knock.

"Come in!" Lucy called out.

Grace opened the door and led Zelina inside, finding Lucy standing near her desk with one of the men from the writing team. Grace didn't know his name. She made sure to smile as she greeted the boss. "Hi. How are you?"

"I'm well, Grace. How are you?" Lucy asked pleasantly.

"I'm good thanks."

Zelina exchanged greetings, then it was down to business. Thorne didn't waste time before shows, Grace was already learning. She figured it was understandable, there was so much to organise ahead of a three hour live televised wrestling show.

"Okay, ladies, we're here to talk about your next angle. I'm going to start with some unfortunate news."

Grace and Zelina glanced at each other, not liking the sound of that.

"I got a medical report earlier that confirmed what we've been fearing for a couple of weeks. Becky Lynch has been working with a bad elbow for a while. She got through Hell in a Cell, but she was in a lot of pain. It turns out she now has an infection in it, and it's going to need surgery. It's a two month layoff at least, so she'll be relinquishing the Raw Women's Championship."

"Oh man, that's rough," Zelina said, showing some sympathy for Becky.

"Yeah, it is. But the show must go on," Lucy said. "Becky's going to need time out, so that means we need a way to write her off the show. You're it."

"We're it? You mean we're going to be the ones to injure Becky?" Grace asked.

"That's right." Lucy proceeded to lay out how she wanted it to happen.

"I like that. It should get some more heat on us. That's what we need," Zelina said.

Lucy nodded. "That's what I was thinking. Injuring Becky can't fail to get you hated."

"I do have a concern," Grace said, trying to sound respectfully cautious, but not too cautious.

"Which is?" Lucy said, her expression indicating that she was open to hearing Grace out, rather than annoyed by what she had said.

"We're going to injure Becky. You're right, it will get heat on us. It will also make us look strong. But then what?" Grace asked. "I mean, Becky will go away for a couple of months, then she'll come back and probably face us in a handicap match or something, probably wreck us both, and we'll be buried. No one would take us seriously after that."

"Hmmm," Lucy said thoughtfully. It was apparent that she hadn't thought of it like that. She looked at Zelina and said, "Thoughts?"

"She does have a point," Zelina said tactfully. "There could be a risk of losing our credibility if that's what you have in mind."

"It was what I had in mind. Grace called it exactly. Having said that, I can see the logic in what you've said. We'll put some more thought into it." Lucy glanced at the writer to indicate who 'we' was. "Fair enough?"

"Fair enough. Thank you," Zelina said.

Lucy nodded an acknowledgement before bring the meeting to and end. "Alright, I think that's all. Thanks for coming in."

"Thank you," Grace said politely, turning and leading the way to the door. She was pleased with how the meeting had gone, having shown more of herself than on the previous occasion.

Zelina closed the office door behind them and waited until they had walked a short distance away before saying, "Jesus Christ, girl." There was some amusement in it.

"What?" Grace asked, surprised by the reaction.

Zelina tried her best to mimic Grace's voice in a comedic way, not doing a bad job of it. "Thanks, Lucy, but fuck your big push. Give us a bigger one."

"Oh god, is that how I came across?" Grace asked, laughing despite how awful the possibility was.

"Kind of," Zelina said. "What you said did have merit behind it though. I admit I was a bit concerned by what she pitched. Becky's easy to get along with, but she doesn't give people much in the ring since she started this 'The Man' gimmick. The last thing we need is a burial, so yeah, I'm glad you said what you said."

Grace smiled at her partner. "She wanted me to speak up, I spoke up. It's the best angle for The Stone Roses that I was after. If this team doesn't work out, it could be the end of me on the main roster."

"I hear you," Zelina said. They had reached the women's locker room, but they stopped outside to finish their conversation. "This could be my last chance to convince Thorne that I can be a full time wrestler. She's had me bouncing between managing and wrestling, clearly not knowing what to do with me. I want to wrestle, so The Stone Roses is as important to me as it is to you."

"One day, we'll be tag champions," Grace said boldly.

"Hell yeah we will!"

* * *

Ahead of their segment on Raw, Zelina and Grace had been escorted to a side door by a couple of members of the backstage security team. They were now waiting in the concourse, with the fans being kept back from them by the security staff.

Becky Lynch was out in the ring, Grace could hear. After cutting a brief promo about her successful title defence at Hell in a Cell, she was currently issuing a challenge to anyone in the back who wanted to fight her.

"Okay, let's go!" Zelina cried when The Stone Roses theme started to play.

Following her partner, Grace ran into the arena and through the crowd towards one of the back corners of the ring.

Becky was standing facing the stage, arms spread wide, welcoming the challenge that she thought she had coming. She was wearing a leather jacket to cover up the substantial bandaging on her injured elbow.

The fans started booing and hollering as Zelina and Grace came over the ringside barrier. Typically, Becky pretended not to notice, so as to be attacked from behind. That role went to Zelina, who savagely launched herself at Becky's right knee, taking her down.

Howling in pain, Becky went down, holding what was soon to be her injured knee, as far as the fans were concerned.

"You want a fight? Here's your fight!" Grace screamed, delivering vicious-looking kicks to the targeted knee.

"Hold her!" Zelina shouted to Grace, who bent down and held Becky's leg for Zelina to drop an elbow on the knee.

Screaming in pain again, Becky rolled around, clutching the knee.

"I thought you were The Man?" Zelina scoffed loudly. Trash talking was something she enjoyed.

Grace was more business-like. Having rolled out of the ring, she shoved ring announced Mike Rome aside and picked up his steel chair.

Over the past few weeks, Grace had been putting a lot of practice into making her smile, what people told her was her best and most beautiful feature, instead look like her most sinister and evil feature. Turning around with the chair, she hoped the nearby cameraman captured it to the fullest extent.

Sliding back into the ring, Grace found Zelina drawing boos from the fans by taunting Becky to get up.

Slowly, selling significant pain, Becky was making it to her feet. Grace put an end to that by slamming the chair into the side of her knee. She knew that the commentary team would be putting over the reprehensible acts of her team, in the hope of drawing more heat for them.

It was now time to put the exclamation point on the beat down. Grace dragged Becky closer to one of the corners by her injured leg, then set about putting it through the gap in the open chair, arranging it so that it was around Becky's knee.

The Stone Roses were acting like a well-oiled machine. For that reason, Zelina didn't need any communication from her partner to know what she ought to do. She was already climbing to the top rope, her back to the ring.

Grace backed off, giving Zelina room to work. She looked forward to the reaction of the crowd.

Zelina launched herself backwards through the air in a moonsault that saw her body land on the chair, snapping it closed on Becky's knee. The anguished reaction from the fans was exactly what Grace had wanted to hear.

While Becky continued selling the injury, Zelina got up and joined Grace in posing for the hard camera. Their music began playing again. Like Grace, Zelina had a well-practiced vicious smile to use, making it quite an image as they both smiled, joining their hands together in the now familiar heart shape.

They had been told not to hang around in the ring for long. When their nasty little celebration was over, attention was going to shift to Becky, with a big deal being made of the medical team getting her into a knee brace and onto a stretcher.

Leaving the ring, Grace walked like the bad bitch who just wrecked the Raw Women's Champion. Beside her, Zelina did the same. They were being booed, which was music to their ears.

"Next week, we turn the screw," Zelina said. "We've got seven days to come up with a promo that makes this heat stick."

"Yes," Grace said seriously, being hit with the importance of what Zelina had just said. "We'll make a start tonight." Before that, Roman and I are going to have some news for you, she didn't add.


	10. Chapter 10

Instead of heading to the bus when she was ready to leave the arena, Grace had sent a message to Roman, arranging to meet up with him outside of the men's locker room.

"How's your nose?" was the first thing she said as she approached him, finding him waiting for her in the hallway. During the main event of Raw, Roman had taken a kick to the face that had connected, giving him a pretty heavy nosebleed.

"It's fine," Roman said with a relaxed smiled. "It's not broken, it was just a bit bloody. Soon got it taken care of."

As Grace reached him, Roman leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips. She was surprised, pleasantly so. He really did mean what he had said about being open about their new relationship. Anyone might have seen that kiss. Apparently Roman didn't care. Somewhat to her surprise, Grace realised that she didn't either. If anyone wanted to get jealous, they could go right ahead.

"I was going to ask if you're still up for telling the group about us," she said with a chuckle. "I think I have my answer."

"I'm looking forward to it," Roman said definitively. "Unless you want to put it off for now?"

"Absolutely not," Grace said, just as definitively. "I expected to be feeling nervous about it by now, but I'm actually not. I've never been one to care about people judging me. You and I know how well we've connected since we met. We know we don't think we've rushed into it."

"And we know how good the sex was that night," Roman added.

His words fired Grace up immediately. She was hungering for more where that had come from. "Oh God yes," she said longingly. "The one bad thing about stupid bunk beds."

"We're in a hotel Wednesday night," Roman reminded her. "I'm going to get us the best room they have. We're going to have room service food, we're going to have wine, and we're going to pick up where we left off that morning at your place."

"Mmm," Grace purred, reaching up and kissing him. "Sign me up for all of that."

"You're already signed up," Roman said gruffly. The nearby locker room door opened and Seth emerged, spoiling the moment.

"Christ, you weren't missing his ass that much were you?" Seth chirped at Grace.

Actually, I was, she thought. "More than I was missing yours," was the answer she chose, drawing laughter from both men as the three of them started walking in the direction of parking garage, pulling their travel cases along behind them.

It didn't take them long to reach the parking garage, where Elena was waiting for them outside the bus. Zelina and Bayley's cases were already loaded into the luggage compartment.

"Roman, how's your nose?" Elena asked. Although she almost always stayed on the bus during shows, she watched Raw live on the TV in the living area.

"Just a bit of blood is all. No breaks," Roman was happy to confirm.

"Good. Grace, I don't know how you do it, but you turn into a... how do you say? Nasty piece of work?"

The trio all laughed. Since getting with Bayley, Elena's English had improved a lot. She still struggled for words occasionally, but usually found the correct ones, as she just had.

"Thanks, Daga, I'm doing my best," Grace said, flashing a smile that contained only happiness, in contrast to the nasty one seen on Raw.

Leaving his case with Elena, Seth walked up the steps into the bus. As Elena started loading the cases, it gave Roman and Grace the chance to exchange a look. 'Are you ready to do this?' his expression asked. Grace nodded, not feeling reluctant at all.

"We'll wait for Daga," Roman muttered under his breath.

Elena finished stowing the cases and closed the luggage compartment door. As she turned around, she gave Roman and Grace a curious look, wondering why they hadn't gotten onto the bus yet. "Something wrong?"

"No. After you," Roman said, gesturing to the steps.

Elena clearly thought something strange was going on, but she headed up the steps without saying anything more. Roman followed behind her, leaving Grace to bring up the rear. Everyone was in the living area apart from Zelina, who was in her bedroom area at the back of the bus.

"Guys, before we leave, there's something I want to say," Roman said. "Z, can I have a minute?" he called out.

"Sure, what's up?" Zelina asked, walking back down the bus towards the rest of the group.

Grace stood beside Roman, next to the driver's seat, where Elena had just made herself comfortable. She decided to let her man do the talking.

"It's actually something Grace and I both want to tell you," Roman said to the group, all of whom now had expectant looks on their faces. "We're dating. I mean, we've started dating."

Bayley clapped her hands together and cried, "I knew it! Daga, I told you!"

"Wait, what?" Grace asked, smiling shyly in surprise.

"Dude, I have a sixth sense," Bayley said. "I pick up on things. A look here, a tone of voice there. I told Daga last week that there was something between you."

Roman laughed. "Bay, this didn't happen until Saturday. We went out to a ball game, and, well, things developed from there."

Bayley shrugged. "So I knew before you did." That drew laughter from the whole group.

"Good for you, I say," Zelina said. "Rome, god knows you deserve to be happy, and Grace, I'm happy for you as well."

"Yes, me too," Elena said. "You guys look great together."

"Thank you," Grace said with an appreciative smile.

"Yeah, this is good news for sure," Seth said, for once being serious. "I think we should celebrate. Daga, find us a nice place to eat. Rome, Grace, you're not putting your hands in your pockets tonight, it's on me and Zel."

"Aww, thank you," Grace said, her smile broadening. She now wondered how she had been concerned about breaking the news to her friends. Of course it had been received with nothing but positivity.

"Is this to be kept between us for now?" Bayley asked.

Roman shrugged. "We're not really bothered. We talked about it, and neither of us are into the idea of sneaking around the place. We intend to go about our business the way we want. If anyone has a problem, they can go ahead and have a problem. We don't care."

Seth clapped once in approval. "Yes, guys. You go for it."

"I'm honestly so happy for you," Bayley said. Getting up, she exchanged a brief hug with Roman, followed by one with Grace.

The usual Seth quickly returned. "I'm not sure if you know what you've landed yourself with though," he said to Grace.

She giggled. "You do make a good point. I've already learned that he likes mustard on his hotdogs. What kind of abomination is that?"

Laughter filled the bus as she and Roman went to sit down on their usual chairs.

"It's a shame there's not room to get those things taken out and put another couch in," Zelina observed.

"We'll manage," Roman assured her with a smile.

Elena fired up the bus, and just like that, normal conversation resumed. Grace couldn't have been happier. The news had received with complete acceptance, with her new friends wanting nothing but the best for her and Roman. The same likely wouldn't be the case with some of her colleagues when they found out, but those who chose to take issue with it could go fuck themselves with a wire brush as far as she was concerned.

* * *

A couple of nights after breaking the news of their relationship to their friends, Roman and Grace finally had the chance to spend a night away from the bus. Traveling with friends was great, sleeping in bunk beds not so much, especially in a fledgling relationship. Grace had never felt so desperate for sex in her life. They were currently on the twelfth floor of their hotel for the night, looking for the room, or rather the suite, which Roman had checked them into.

"Ruby Suite, this is us," Roman said, looking at the small plaque beside the door. In this hotel, all of the expensive suites were named after precious stones. He put the key card into the slot on the door. The light turned red. He tried again, and again the light went red. "Why don't these things ever work for me?" he grumbled.

"Let me try," Grace said, taking the card from him. "I've got the technique for these things. Put it in, then slowly back out," she commentated as she worked. The light flashed green. "See!" she said, smiling broadly and handing the card back to him.

"There's magic in those hands," Roman said, clearly making a sexual innuendo.

"You'd better believe it," Grace said seductively as Roman opened the door. He walked in, holding the door open for her.

"Look at this," Grace gasped, walking into the suite. The far wall was all glass, offering a stunning view across the city, tower blocks lighting up the night sky. There were heavy curtains that could be drawn for privacy. Looking around, Grace saw a lounge area with luxurious couches and chairs, and a huge TV that she had no intention of using. On the other side of the room there was a round dining table with four chairs.

"Grace, look," Roman said. He had gone over to the bathroom and opened the door.

She hurried over to him, squeezing past his huge frame to look inside. He put an arm around her waist as she gasped at what she saw. This was no ordinary bathroom. It was about half the size of the main area of the suite, and had a massive hot tub as its centrepiece. "Oh, yes!" she cried. "Rome, we have to use that. I could get that going right now."

"Let's do it," Roman said, more than happy to go along with her.

Grace turned and looked up into his eyes. "Really?"

"We've got all night, babe. If you want to start with a hot tub, let's go. I say we should eat after that though."

"Deal," Grace said softly, before kissing him passionately. She felt like her heart had skipped a beat when he had called her babe for the first time.

"I'll even get it going," Roman said. "You go and check out the rest of the room."

That's a good point, Grace thought. It had just dawned on her that she hadn't seen a bed. She slipped away from Roman, back into the suite. "Ah," she said to herself, realising that part of what she had thought was the wall at the far end of the room beyond the table and chairs was actually a sliding door. It had a small handle that was barely noticeable.

Grace walked over to the door and pulled it open, finding that although it was thick and heavy, it glided easily on its runners. It opened to reveal possibly the biggest bed Grace had ever seen. What was on the bed melted her heart. There was an elaborate arrangement of rose petals that Roman must have requested and paid extra for.

"Oh, Roman," she called out, turning around. She found him just behind her, smiling happily.

"I hope you like it. I wanted our first proper night to be special."

"I love it. I'm speechless. I don't know what to say."

Roman gave her a peck on the lips. "Don't say anything, just be happy. The hot tub is on, too."

How did Andrea divorce this man? Grace wondered incredulously. "Lead the way," she said, offering her hand.

Taking her hand, Roman walked her through to the bathroom. Grace found the hot tub bubbling away. She couldn't wait to get in, but she wanted to at least make some attempt to undress in a sexy way for him. On the other hand, Roman unceremoniously removed his clothes and tossed them to the floor before stepping into the tub. He settled down in the water, watching Grace undress.

Down to her bra and panties, she removed the bra with a flourish, dropping to the floor.

"I like what I'm seeing," Roman said, his voice thick with desire.

"Oh yeah? How about now?" Grace asked, pulling off her panties.

"Even better. Get in here," Roman instructed.

Grace laughed, enjoying having him on the hook. She stepped over the side of the tub, into the delightfully warm water. Sitting down next to Roman, she felt his powerful arm go around her shoulders.

"Now this is the life," she breathed, relaxing against him.

They sat there in a contented silence for a couple of minutes, simply enjoying being with each other in such a lovely setting.

"Thank you, Grace," Roman said eventually.

"Thank you? What for?" she asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"For making me happy again. I haven't felt like this in so long. Layla and the guys on the bus kept me going, but this is a different kind of happiness, you know. I'm only now realising how much I needed it."

"Aww, Rome, that's so sweet. And I know what you mean. I can't remember the last time I was this happy either. I've been in a few brief relationships, but none of them at any point made me feel like this."

"That's great to hear," Roman said, softly kissing the top of her head. "Honestly, I was in doubt about whether anyone would want to be with a divorced guy who also has a child."

"Well, I don't hold either of those things against you at all," Grace promised him. "You gave me the reason for your divorce, and it wasn't one that would cause me to be concerned about how you would treat me. And as for Layla, I'd never hold her against you. To be honest, I'm looking forward to meeting her, whenever the time comes."

Roman moved slightly so that she had to move her head. "Really?" he asked as their eyes met.

"Of course! She sounds like a great kid."

"I'm happy to hear you say that. I didn't know if you would be keen, but I've been thinking it would be a good thing if you met each other. Maybe the three of us could go to the last Rays game of the season? That would be a nice day out."

And he needs to see if Layla and I get along, Grace realised. If the answer came back no, that could be a deal breaker for the relationship. Rightfully so, she had to acknowledge. Layla had to be Roman's top priority. She wasn't concerned, though. She liked kids, and Layla sounded adorable from what Roman had said about her. "Sure, I'd like that," she readily agreed.

"Great. I'm sure you'll get along well."

"Yeah, me too," Grace smiled.

Roman went in for a kiss, and just like that the fire between them was ignited. There would be no unprotected sex, but Grace was more than willing to deliver the magic with her hands that she had alluded to earlier. As they kissed, she worked on his rock hard shaft with her right hand.

"Mmmm, I knew you were magical," Roman said between kisses, keeping his eyes closed to better enjoy the sensations that she was giving him.

"The night is only just getting started," she breathed, knowing that she had him in the palm of her hand, literally and figuratively.


	11. Chapter 11

Today was a day Grace had been looking forward to for a couple of weeks, ever since Roman had put forward the idea that she might join him and Layla at the Tampa Bay Rays' last game of the season.

Getting alone well with Layla was going to be of vital importance in terms of making a success of her relationship with Roman, Grace knew all too well. So far, things were going like a dream. She felt like she was in love with him, even if it was too soon to tell him as much. However, if things went badly today, it would be a significant problem. Grace wasn't too concerned though. She had always liked kids, and felt confident in her ability to connect with Layla without coming across like she was forcing the issue.

Thinking that she had it all under control was one thing. Having it pan out like that in reality was another. The time was now at hand, for Grace saw a car pulling up outside her house as she looked out of her kitchen window. Roman was a few minutes early. This time, for obvious reasons, he had not come in his two seat Ford GT. Grace watched him get out of a four door silver Mercedes.

"Another nice ride," she said to herself as she left the kitchen, waiting to open the front door when Roman rang the bell.

Outside, she heard a couple of car doors bang shut. Moments later she Roman's voice, speaking to Layla. "Do you want to ring the bell?"

"Okay!" came the reply. Layla sounded excited. That was good, Grace thought. She had been hoping that Layla wasn't going to be shy about meeting her. Possibly she took after her dad in terms of confidence.

The bell rang. Grace left it a moment before walking forward and opening the door. "Hi!" she said, smiling broadly, first at Roman, then at Layla, who stood there in a kids Rays jersey and black pants. She had long, curly brown hair, and a cute, shy smile on her face.

"Hey," Roman said warmly. "Layla, say hi to Grace."

"Hi," Layla said, speaking a little timidly.

"Awesome to meet you, Layla!" Grace said. "Ready to go and watch some baseball?"

"Yes! The Rays are going to win!" Layla said, drawing smiles from both adults.

"Of course they are," Roman agreed. "They always win when we go to the game, don't they?"

"No. They lose a lot," Layla said deadpan.

Grace laughed as she gave her pockets a check to make sure she had everything. "Okay, I'm ready to go."

As Grace stepped out of the house and set about locking the door, Layla ran for the car.

"Not into the road, Lay!" Roman called out.

"I'm not! I'm going to the car!" Layla called, stopping on the sidewalk.

Grace laughed. "I adore her already, Rome," she said quietly. "And I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Roman said, giving her a peck on the lips as they walked towards the car. "Layla couldn't wait to meet you. She spent all morning asking me about your favourite Rays players, which wrestlers you like, all sorts of questions."

"Does she know how wrestling works?" Grace asked urgently, keeping her voice down. It was something she hadn't considered until now.

Roman shook his head, a mischievous grin on his face.

When they reached the car, Layla walked around to the front passenger door.

"In the back, please, sweet pea," Roman said to her.

Grace was tempted to tell Layla that she was okay to ride in the front if she wanted to, but she knew that it was not her place to go against what Roman told his daughter to do.

The three of them got into the car. Grace took a moment to look around the interior of the Mercedes while sorting her seat belt out. Roman sure knew how to pick his cars, she thought.

"Got your seatbelt on, Lay?" Roman asked, turning in his seat to check.

"Yes, dad," she replied.

It was a simple interaction, yet it made Grace smile. Theirs seemed like such a wholesome father/daughter relationship.

"So, who are your favourite wrestlers, Layla?" Grace asked as Roman got the car moving.

"Bayley, Zelina and Alexa," Layla announced. "Zelina is nasty on TV but she's always nice to me."

Grace had to smile, imagining Roman introducing his daughter to the group on the tour bus. She turned to look at Layla while offering up an explanation. "I'm quite nasty on TV sometimes too. The thing is, Zelina and I don't like some of the people we work with. We're nice to people we do like, though."

Layla took that in for a moment. Seeming to find that it made sense, she said, "I hope you'll like me."

Grace gave one of her brightest smiles. "I'm sure I will! You're a Rays fan, what's not to like?" Although she wasn't actually a Rays fan herself, Grace was willing to act like she was today, hoping that it would make the game more enjoyable for Layla. She had even bought a Rays jersey to wear.

"I know how to do the Set in Stone, too!" Layla pronounced.

Set in Stone was Grace's finishing move, a modified version of a figure-four headscissors submission hold.

"Layla has her own little wrestling ring at home," Roman said.

"I miss wrestling with you, dad," Layla said sadly, and Grace saw a flash of pain in Roman's eyes.

"I'm going to get you a ring in my garden, sweet pea," he promised.

"Okay," Layla said with the simple acceptance that came easily to a child.

"So, who's your favourite Rays player?" Grace asked. They had more than hour in the car ahead if them, so she figured it was the ideal time for her and Layla to get to know each other.

* * *

Once they had arrived at Tropicana Field and Roman had found a place in one of the parking lots, Grace finally had a chance to talk to him one on one. Layla was walking slightly ahead of them around the edge of the lot, eager to get into the building.

"Never seen someone look so sexy in a baseball jersey," Roman said, eyeing up Grace's attire.

She laughed. "Thanks, I guess. It's not exactly a flattering look, but I figured Layla would enjoy it more if she thought I was a big Rays fan too."

"Thank you. It's awesome that you even thought about that," Roman said happily. "She likes you, I can tell."

That was music to Grace's ears, and it made her smile. "You think so? I'm really glad. I like her too. She's such a funny, well-mannered kid."

"Lay, hold up, please!" Roman called out, seeing that she was starting to get a bit further ahead. Obediently, his daughter stopped and waited.

"Hey, Layla, what do you say we get a hotdog when we get inside?" Grace offered when they reached where she was standing.

"Am I allowed?" Layla asked her dad.

"Yes, you can have a hotdog, and a soda," Roman said as the three of them started walking together.

"Now, the question is how do you like your hotdog?" Grace asked, making a big deal of it.

Roman laughed, giving Grace the impression that she had just walked into a trap. "Lay, what do you have on your hotdog?" he took pleasure in asking.

"Mustard!" Layla cried.

The look on Roman's face made Grace laugh, and she played her part by scrunching up her face in disgust. "Mustard is horrible! Chilli is the best thing to have on a hotdog."

"Chilli? Eww," Layla said.

"Sounds like you're outvoted, babe," Roman said, putting an arm around Grace's waist as they walked.

"So it would seem," Grace chuckled.

Ten minutes later, they had made it through the security checks and were at one of the food kiosks inside the stadium.

"Tell the lady what you'd like," Roman encouraged Layla when their time came to be served.

"Hotdog please," Layla said to the female cashier who was serving them.

"Coming up, honey," the cashier said with a smile. "Would you like anything on it?"

"Mustard, please," Layla said.

Grace completed the order, requesting Roman's hotdog and her own, also asking for three Cokes. Not for the first time, she was struck by what a great dad Roman seemed to be, and how well-raised Layla was. She was truly a credit to Roman and to Andrea.

Before long, the cashier returned with Layla's hotdog, having fixed that first of all. "Here you are," she said, stretching over the counter to hand it over.

"Thank you," Layla said politely as she took it.

Grace looked at Roman with an expression that said, 'She's truly adorable.' Roman responded with a proud-looking smile.

When they all had their hotdogs and drinks, they went to find their seats. As was usually the case, Roman had bought tickets near to first base, Layla's favourite place to watch the game from. Layla walked along the row of seats first, followed by Roman, with Grace bringing up the rear.

"Seat five, Lay," Roman said.

"This one!" she cried when she reached the correct seat.

Grace settled into seat seven, putting her drink down on the floor. Feeling very hungry, she eagerly tucked into her hotdog.

"Daddy, I need to pee," Layla announced a minute later, halfway through eating her hotdog.

"Okay, finish that first and I'll take you," he said.

"I can take her. If you like, I mean," Grace offered. She didn't want to overstep any boundaries, but at the same time she wanted to seem eager to help out, and to look after Layla in any way she could, if needed.

"Okay, thank you," Roman said, conveying total trust in her with his tone. He turned to Layla. "Finish eating, then you can go with Grace. And make sure you hold her hand, alright?"

"I will," Layla said cheerfully, her mouth full of hotdog.

When she had finished her hotdog, which had taken her longer than Layla, Grace got up. "Ready when you are, Layla."

Layla go up and walked to the end of the row of seats, Grace edging past Roman to follow her. Without needing to be prompted, Layla stopped on the steps and offered her hand. Grace took it and said, "Let's go and find the bathrooms."

"I know where they are," Layla said, heading up the steps at quite a pace.

Looking back at Roman, Grace saw him watching them. They made eye contact, and it was at that moment that she realised Roman loved her. She could see it in his eyes. She already felt the same way about him. It would probably be a while before they said it to each other, but she now knew the feelings were there in both of them.

"This way," Layla said when they walked into the concourse.

A man smiled as he passed them, heading in the opposite direction. He was walking with his young son sitting on his shoulders. Both of them had Rays jerseys on. Grace returned the smile, but in truth she was a little taken aback. The man had obviously assumed that Layla was her daughter. Even odder was that it was easy to see why he had made that assumption. They were both dark skinned, had long curly hair, and were walking hand in hand. Why wouldn't people assume she was Layla's mother?

It was an odd feeling, and it got even odder when the thought came into her head that one day, if things kept going as well with Roman as they were now, Layla might come to look at her as a stepmom. Taking on someone else's child, even on a part time basis during visitation, was something she had never imagined herself doing. What surprised her was that she didn't even have to think twice about it. As a part of being with Roman, she was happy to do it.


	12. Chapter 12

Making the Raw team for the traditional women's five on five Survivor Series match was a big deal for The Stone Roses, particularly as the November pay-per-view was only their second one. Grace didn't expect her or Zelina to be booked to make a huge contribution to the match, but at least it gave her the chance to work with some of the Smackdown women for the first time.

The Raw team consisted of The Stone Roses, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, who were still the Women's Tag Team Champions, and Bayley, who had been given the on-screen role as team captain.

For Smackdown, Lacey Evans, as that brand's champion, would take charge. Her team consisted of Charlotte Flair, Fire and Desire, and Dakota Kai, who was a fairly recent call-up from NXT.

There had been rumours that Dakota would soon be moving to Raw, and would be going on to form a team with Bayley. Personally, Grace liked that idea a lot, seeing a lot of potential in the team. Babyface teams were somewhat lacking in the division, which limited potential opponents for The Stone Roses.

Shortly, there would be a meeting with all ten wrestlers and the agent for the match, where the entirety of it would be laid out, including whatever finish Lucy Thorne had decided she wanted.

Charlotte walked into the locker room carrying a cup of coffee that she had fetched from catering. "Grace, you're wanted in Lucy's office," she called out.

Grace shot a slightly confused glance at Zelina beside her before replying. "Me? Or me and Zelina?"

"I passed her in the hallway and said, 'Send Grace to my office, please'. You know as much as I do," Charlotte said with a shrug.

"Well, it was nice working with you," Bayley quipped.

Grace had to laugh as she got up, pretending to threaten her friend. "Don't start, I'm warning you."

There was a ripple of laughter from the few people who happened to have been paying attention to the exchange. Meanwhile, Bayley feigned being offended at the way she had been spoken to.

Chuckling to herself, Grace walked out of the locker room. Heading down the hallway towards the boss's office, she tried to imagine why she might have been summoned. Despite her best efforts, she wasn't coming up with much. Presumably it wasn't related to The Stone Roses because Zelina would have been called on also if it was. Grace couldn't think of anything she had done that would put her on course to get the riot act, so what was going on?

There's only one way to find out, she thought, approaching the door to Thorne's office. She gave the door a firm knock, conscious as always about how she was going to come across to the Chairwoman.

"Come in!"

Grace opened the door, making sure to have a pleasant, professional smile on her face. She found Lucy uncharacteristically by herself in the office, and she was sitting behind her desk.

This doesn't look good, Grace thought. To counter that, the smile and greeting she got were quite warm.

"Ah, Grace. Have a seat. I hope you're well?"

"I'm doing good, thank you. How are you?" Grace sat down in the one leather office chair that was placed in front of the desk.

Lucy looked at ease, sitting forward with her hands clasped together on the desktop. Grace noticed a diamond ring on the middle finger of her right hand, thinking that it was probably worth more than every piece of jewellery she had ever owned put together. How the other half live, she thought, not for the first time.

"I'm well, apart from having a bit of a problem that you can help me with."

"I can?" Grace asked, sounding more surprised than she would have liked. "I mean, if I can, I will. What is it?"

"I know you're friends with Roman, so I assume you know about the movie he's going to start shooting soon?"

"Yes, we've talked about it," Grace said. Roman had told her about the premise for WWE Studios latest effort, Poseidon's Secret. It was an action adventure movie about a treasure hunter. Roman had been cast in the starring role, and would be written off TV soon to allow him the month or so away from WWE that was needed for filming. It wasn't something that she was looking forward to, since it would obviously mean they wouldn't be seeing each other much during that period, if at all.

"Good, so you know filming is only a couple of weeks away from beginning," Lucy said.

"Right," Grace acknowledged, lost as to what any of this had to do with her.

"That's where the problem comes in. The actress we had cast for one of the important roles had to pull out this morning. She was filming on another project, doing a stunt that should have been quite simple. She had chosen to do the stunt herself, and she ended up badly breaking her ankle in a freak accident."

"Nasty," Grace said with a grimace.

"Quite," Lucy said. "Losing her with so little time to go presented a problem, namely where to get an actress from at such late notice. If it wasn't possible, Poseidon's Secret may have had to be pushed back. But then I had an idea. You have some acting experience."

"I do," Grace said cautiously as her mind started racing. Holy shit, a voice in her head was screaming. She was about to be offered a movie role! "I've been in a few straight to TV movies, and I've done a bit of voice acting for video games."

"Yes, I've read your personnel file thoroughly, and I watched one of the movies you were in to check you out. I think you've got something as an actress. It's one of the things I like about you and Zelina together, you're both good actresses."

"Thank you," Grace said, reminded that Zelina and Seth had starred in a crime drama that had run for one season on the WWE Network. She now saw that the aforementioned personnel file was sitting on Lucy's desk, currently closed.

As soon as Grace noticed the file, Lucy picked it up and opened it, looking at the page that had been left on top. "Your file mentions that among your hobbies and interests, you enjoy scuba diving. Indeed, you hold certification," Lucy said, studying the sheet.

"Yes, I'm a certified diver. One day, after my wrestling career is over, I'd like to move somewhere coastal and hot, buy a dive boat and become an instructor. You might say that's my dream, after I retire of course."

Lucy looked up, smiling. Grace was convinced that she actually cared. It was something she had heard about Thorne from other people, and was now seeing for herself. Having a boss who genuinely cared about you as an employee made a world of difference.

"That does sound idyllic," Lucy said. "I've never tried diving myself. It's something I'm not sure I'd enjoy, not being particularly confident in the water."

"Maybe take some lessons with someone," Grace said, really enjoying the unexpected direction that the conversation had gone in. "They would make it a priority to build up your confidence. And honestly? There's nothing more relaxing that a dive. For someone as busy as yourself, if you ever wanted some time to get away from things and clear your head, there's no better way."

"Thanks, I'll give that some thought." Just for a moment, it had been like two friends chatting in a bar. But then Lucy got back down to business. "Anyway, the reason I mentioned it is that the role you're going to play will involve some diving scenes. You'd obviously be qualified and safe to film them."

"One of the reasons?" Grace enquired.

Lucy chuckled to herself. "Yeah. Your character is Roman's research assistant, kind of a partner in his treasure hunting. I've seen the two of you talking backstage a few times, and, well, you look ideal for the part."

Imagine if she knew we're dating each other, Grace thought as she smiled. "Okay, sounds good. I'm definitely up for it. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. I'm honoured that you considered me for it."

"You're welcome," Lucy said. "Honestly, you'll be doing me a favour. Having one of the main actresses dropping out this late could have screwed up the filming schedule. Speaking of, we're going to have to work something out to write you off-screen. I might have Charlotte take care of it tonight."

Lucy went on to lay out how Grace would be 'injured' by Charlotte, and then told her how much she would be paid for the movie. The money wasn't amazing. It had to be less than whatever the injured actress would have made, but Grace didn't mind. The chance to star in a movie for WWE was a big opportunity, and could lead to even bigger opportunities in the future. She accepted the offer graciously, without even trying to negotiate the amount of money that she would receive.

"Then we have an agreement," Lucy said enthusiastically, reaching across her desk to offer a handshake that would seal the deal.

"We do. Thank you," Grace said, shaking hands.

"My pleasure. I'll leave you to bring Roman up to speed, if that's okay?"

Grace nodded. "That's fine. I'll go and do it now."

"Thank you," Lucy said, motioning to the door as a way of bringing the meeting to a close.

"Thanks, I really do appreciate it," Grace said as she got up. Leaving the office, she couldn't stop herself smiling. What a turn of events. She was not only going to be starring in a movie, she was going to do so alongside her boyfriend. It promised to be great fun!

As she walked along the hallway, Grace sent a message to ask Roman where he was. She wanted to give him the news in person, so that she could see and enjoy his reaction.

While she waited for a reply, Grace typed Poseidon's Secret into a search engine. Not much was publically known about it yet, she saw, other than that Roman Reigns was the star, alongside a relatively big name Hollywood actress called Nikki Bella. Reading on, Grace saw Bella's character described as Roman's rival come love interest. That final part made Grace feel a bit uneasy. She wasn't particularly keen on her man acting like someone else's love interest, even for a movie.

It's a bit late to object now, she told herself with a sigh as a reply came through from Roman, telling her that he was out in the arena, laying out his match for later in the night.

Setting her moment of annoyance aside, Grace hurried to Gorilla, then out into the arena. She found Roman coming up the entrance ramp by himself, apparently coming to meet her.

"Hey," he said, smiling warmly as soon as he saw her. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's great," Grace said, returning the smile in kind. "I was just in Lucy Thorne's office, and to cut a long story short, I'm going to be starring with you in Poseidon's Secret."

"You're what?" he asked, his smile broadening at the good news, even if he didn't understand it.

"The actress who was going to play your research assistant got hurt, apparently, and she's had to pull out. Lucy wanted me to take her place, and I was delighted to accept. So, we're making a movie together!"

"Oh wow!" Roman exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with excitement and delight. "That's fantastic! I can't wait for us to get started! The worst thing about filming is the large amount of time you have to spend by yourself when you're not on set. Now we'll be able to spend that together, basically on a paid vacation to Jamaica. It'll be incredible."

Grace loved the sound of that. Any precious time with her man away from WWE was welcome, but this promised to be something else entirely. "I can't wait to get over there," she said, giving him a peck on the lips.


	13. Chapter 13

"Rome, I could get used to this. And Lucy said I was doing her a favour by taking this role," Grace said with a slightly mystified shake of her head. They were sitting in the back of a luxury saloon car, being driven from the airport in Kingston, Jamaica to the hotel that they would be calling home for the next month or more. They had even been booked to fly first class by WWE.

"Nice flight, nice ride, gorgeous weather, a stunning girl next to me. Yeah, I think I've had worse experiences," Roman said, making like he was seriously considering it.

"I don't know if any flight can be nice," Grace said, inevitably thinking about her mom.

Roman took her hand and offered a compassionate smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know you didn't," Grace said, squeezing his hand. She took a deep breath and forced herself to move on. "Look at this weather! Stunning."

"Not a cloud to be seen," Roman said, looking out of the window on his side of the car. "And we don't start filming until tomorrow. By my reckoning that means we have all day today to ourselves."

"Yes!" Grace said happily. "And we have a beachfront hotel, so I know what I'm thinking."

"Thinking about soaking up some rays? Because I can totally get on-board with that."

"Hell yeah," Grace said. "I'm thinking we check-in, have a look around the room, then get to the beach. Relaxing and soaking up some rays with you will be so nice, maybe with a drink or too. I also can't wait to get in the water. It's always delightful in Jamaica; so warm, so clear."

Roman had already learned that she had visited a couple of times, unlike him. He was new to Jamaica, and liked what he was seeing a lot so far. "Sounds good to me," he said. "We're going to be spending a lot of time in the water over the next few weeks, might as well get some practice in today."

"For sure," Grace nodded. "I'm only talking about snorkelling. We can leave the diving to tomorrow, assuming they have us in the water tomorrow. You know, when Lucy and I talked about diving when she offered me the part, she genuinely seemed interested. I told her that my dream when I retire from wrestling is to move somewhere like this, buy a dive boat and become an instructor. I love the water so much, being able to make a living doing it would be ideal."

"That's what you'd want to do one day?" Roman asked, smiling at her enthusiasm for it.

"Oh, absolutely. When I got the compensation money from the airline over mom's death, I thought about making the move then. I could have afforded to do it. But I decided that I had put so much into wrestling I had to give it a few more years. Making it in WWE has always been a goal for me."

"You did the right thing in sticking to wrestling for now," Roman opined. "Would you want to move abroad for the dive business, or would you maybe do it somewhere in Florida?"

"I always thought I'd move away, but then I wasn't in a serious relationship then. I think we both know this is for real between us, so of course that would change my decision and my plans. You have Layla to consider, and I'd never dream of asking you to move far away from her."

"Hearing you describe us as serious and for real makes me happy," Roman said as they looked lovingly at each other. "I was thinking about asking you this at some point while we were in Jamaica, now I think I'm just going to come out with it. I'd like you to move in with me when we get back."

Grace barely needed to think about it. "I'd love that. I mean, we already live together on the bus most of the time. Last time we were home and I had to go to my place to get things to stay at your place, it felt silly. I'm absolutely ready to move in together if you are." She laughed. "Obviously you are, you just asked me."

"I'm more than ready," Roman assured her. He leaned in for a kiss, and they started smooching each other.

Lost in their passion for each other, the driver's voice took them by surprise five minutes later. "Sir, ma'am, this is your hotel," he said with some mirth in his voice as he pulled the car up outside the entrance.

"Woah, that was quick," Grace said, kind of wishing the interruption hadn't happened. Roman's kissing always blew her mind.

"We'll pick that up later," Roman said, fixing her with a look that made his intentions perfectly clear.

"I'll hold you to that, mister."

With that, they got out of the car. A member of the hotel's staff was there with a trolley to bring in their cases, so they thanked their driver and left the two men to sort things out between them.

Unaware of Roman and Grace's relationship, WWE had booked separate rooms for them. Roman intended to try and switch them into a double room, or ideally a suite if possible. Failing that, they would share one of the rooms already booked for them.

The weather outside was gloriously hot. By contrast, the hotel's lobby was refreshingly cool. It was also impeccably clean and expensively furnished, befitting a four star establishment. Even better, as far as Grace was concerned, there was no line at the check-in desk. A black man with short grey hair was standing there waiting to help them. He began by wishing them a good afternoon, because it was just gone noon, and welcoming them to the hotel.

"Good afternoon," Roman said pleasantly. "We have two rooms reserved, one in the name Roman Reigns, the other in the name Grace Stone."

"Okay, let me find them for you," the receptionist said, shifting his focus to his computer screen.

"Actually, I was wondering if instead of the two rooms, is there a double room or a suite you could give us together?" Roman asked hopefully. "You see, it was a mistake by our company to book two rooms."

"I'll certainly see what I have." A moment later, the receptionist looked up. "You're with us for a long time. There's no room or suite I can switch you to, I'm afraid. Having said that, you are both booked into double rooms, so if you wanted to share one..." He let his voice trail off just short of stating that he was perfectly happy to charge for two rooms while they only used one of them.

"That's fine, thank you. We'll share one of the rooms," Grace said.

They were given keys to both rooms, which were on the same floor. They were also informed that they had a sea view.

"Perfect, thank you," Roman said.

"I looked this place up online," Grace said after they walked away from the desk, the bellhop following a short distance behind with their cases on his trolley. "The sea view rooms are on the back side of the hotel, and it looked like they all had balconies. I was hoping we were going to get one of them."

"Nice," Roman said. "I can see it now: sunset over the ocean, a bottle of wine, a few stories to tell."

"You paint such romantic pictures, Rome," she said, looking up at him.

"One of my many talents," he smiled.

A few minutes later, they were entering their room. Leaving Roman in charge of the cases and tipping the bellhop, Grace had a look around. She found herself in fairly regular room, albeit more tastefully furnished than some places. There were two double beds, a nice bathroom, and as she had predicted, a balcony that from this height gave the illusion that it actually hung over the beach.

"This will do for a home for a month," she proclaimed as Roman hauled the cases into the room.

"I'm glad we're doing this together," Roman said. "Being here by myself was going to suck, but now? It's going to be a blast."

"I'm glad too, honey," Grace said, using the affectionate word for the first time in their relationship without even thinking about it. She walked into his arms and they passionately kissed each other.

"Mmm I could spend the rest of the day in here with you," Roman said, his voice thick with desire. "But I know you want to get to the beach."

"How about this for a deal? Beach now, as much sex as you like tonight."

"You won't see me arguing with that."

"Right, that means I need a bikini," Grace said, eyeing up her two cases, trying to remember which one she had put bikinis in. "This one," she recalled, taking it and heading for the bathroom.

There were actually several bikini sets in the case. Once she had undressed, she took a moment to decide which one to go with. In the end, she opted for a black one for the simple reason that it was the most revealing one she had. Roman could enjoy what he saw for the next few hours.

After she had put on the bikini, there were a few more things Grace needed from her case. She pulled out a bottle of sun screen, followed by a beach towel. Carefully wrapped up in the towel was a snorkel mask that she brought along. She unpacked it, thankfully saw it had survived the flight undamaged, and refolded the towel for easier carrying. With that she was ready to go.

Leaving the bathroom, Grace found Roman standing in the now open doorway to the balcony. He turned from admiring the view of the beach and clear blue ocean to admire the view of her in her bikini. He wasn't the only one admiring, either. The sight of Roman wearing only swim shorts and flip flops was quite something to behold. His perfectly toned and sculpted muscles almost made her salivate.

"Wow, I'm a lucky woman," she said, smiling coyly.

"Not as lucky as I am," he replied, looking her up and down, clearly loving what he saw. "That's a seriously sexy bikini."

"Thank you, I hoped you would think that."

"Oh, I do. But I have to ask, why do you have a scuba mask with you?" he chuckled.

"We're going to have a lot of diving to do for this movie, and who knows how good the gear is that they're going to have for us?" She held her mask up to show it to him. "One thing I can't stand diving with is an uncomfortable mask. This one fits me perfectly. I also don't like masks with clear skirts. I have to use black ones like this. Then there's the other bonus of this mask, in that it has polarisation to deal with any sun glare. It can be quite strong in certain water conditions, particularly in clear waters like we have here in Jamaica."

Roman stood there with his eyebrows slightly raised. He looked impressed with her monologue. "Now I can see why you want to be a dive instructor. Even in that short explanation, your passion came through so well."

Grace flashed him one of her best smiles. "You'd best brush up your knowledge. We might be running that instructor business together one day."

"No, I would just drive the boat," he said, and they both laughed.

"Sounds like a viable business plan to me," she grinned.

"Honestly, how many dives have you done?"

Grace puffed out her cheeks, trying to estimate. "I really don't know. Over a hundred for sure. I've been doing it since I was young."

"Woah! Over a hundred?" Roman said. "I've only done about ten."

"You're a rookie," Grace teased. "Don't worry, I'll make you an expert before you know it."

"You know what you do make me?" Roman asked, suddenly pulling her to him. "You make me hard."

"I can tell," Grace gasped in excitement, feeling his stiff cock pressing against her stomach. "Maybe the beach can wait for a bit after all."

"Damn right it can," Roman said, scooping her off her feet, making her squeal in surprise and delight, dropping everything she had been holding to the floor. He carried her over to the bed, where their month in Jamaica soon got started the in the best possible way.


	14. Chapter 14

As it turned out, the parts of Poseidon's Secret that took place underwater or on either of the two dive boats in use on the project were to be filmed first, in order for the boats and underwater equipment to be returned to where they were hired from as soon as possible. There would be further underwater scenes shot later in a huge water tank on set, with the footage then having CGI work done on it. The schedule meant that the movie's scenes were being filmed totally out of sequence in relation to where they occurred in the finished product. That wasn't out of the ordinary, Grace knew from past experience.

The plan put together by the film crew called for the simplest water scenes being filmed at sea to be taken care of first, working on towards those that involved longer dives. Grace figured that was to help anyone who might be lacking confidence in their diving to build that confidence up as they went. It was a good idea, she thought, although it obviously wasn't going to be a concern for her personally.

Poseidon's Secret's plot revolved around Joe, Roman's character, who was a treasure hunter looking for an ancient solid gold tablet that his research indicated had been lost when a ship called Poseidon's Adventure had sunk. Having located the shipwreck, he and Athena, his research assistant come dive partner, played by Grace, intended to explore the wreck in order to locate and retrieve the gold tablet.

On their first dive on the wreck of Poseidon's Secret, Joe and Athena would encounter another treasure hunter in Stephanie, Nikki Bella's character, who had the same intentions regarding the gold tablet. Starting as competitors, they would go on to form an alliance against a third treasure hunter who was the 'bad guy' of the movie, with a romance also blooming along the way.

Before any of that was filmed, Roman and Grace had to meet their co-stars, including Nikki Bella herself, who was a big star for WWE to have recruited for one of their projects.

"At least we made a good impression by showing up early," Grace said to Roman. Among the first to arrive, they had standing on the dock for a while with the director, a bunch of the film crew and a few of the minor actors involved in the movie. So far, there was no sign of Nikki Bella.

"Yeah, and it's good to meet everyone," Roman said, sipping from a cool bottle of water that one of the crew had passed around from a large cool box that would be going with them on the boat.

Their attention was attracted by a black SUV pulling up nearby. A smartly dressed driver got out and opened one of the rear doors. Watching on, Grace recognised Nikki Bella when she got out of the SUV. She couldn't help the pang of insecurity she felt, looking at her truly beautiful co-star. Wearing a fashionable white dress and heels, Nikki had a gorgeous face, a figure that men would die for, and the best pair of tits money could buy. In every respect, Grace felt put in the shade, and she wondered what Roman was thinking as they watched Nikki walk over towards them.

"Apparently she merits a driver," Roman commented. It was pretty wild, as the walk from the hotel to the dock couldn't have taken more than three minutes.

"Apparently," Grace agreed, hiding her emotions.

Nikki was approached by the director first. After they greeted each other with familiarity that suggested they had worked together before, the director began introducing her to the other actors, actresses and crew members. Roman and Grace stayed where they were, waiting for their turn.

"And here we have Roman Reigns," the director said when he and Nikki came over. "Roman, meet Nikki Bella."

"Roman, good to meet you," Nikki said, flashing a winning smile at her co-star as she offered a handshake.

"Nice to meet you," Roman said, carefully shaking the rather dainty hand. "I'm looking forward to working with you on this project," he added, to Grace's annoyance.

"Likewise," Nikki said, her smile still in place.

"And this is Grace Stone," the director said, motioning to her.

"Hi, Grace. Nice to meet you," Nikki said, offering another handshake and smile.

"Nice to meet you," Grace said, forcing a smile as she took the offered hand. She wasn't usually a jealous person, and didn't really know why jealousy was at the forefront of her mind right now. Or maybe I do know, she thought. Roman is going to be filming romantic scenes with this bitch. He's going to be kissing her. He's going to have his hands all over her. She's going to have her hands all over my man.

The guy playing the research assistant to Nikki's character came over, and was introduced to her. Roman and Grace had already met him a few minutes earlier.

"Okay, guys," the director said to the four of them, now that the introductions had been made. "The first thing we're going to do when we get out there on the boat is have someone give you a refresher course on dive safety. I know all of you have some experience, but we need to cover it anyway because safety is our top priority."

"You could have had Grace do that. She has more than a hundred dives to her name," Roman said. Grace noticed an element of pride in his voice that made her feel a bit better about things, even if no one working on the project knew that they were in a relationship, and therefore might fight the comment a little odd.

"Is that why she brought her own mask along?" Nikki asked, looking at what Grace was holding.

There was a small ripple of laughter around the group, but Grace wasn't amused by having a joke made at her expense. As if there was something odd about wanting to use her own dive mask. She chose not to respond in case she snapped too hard. It didn't take a genius to work out that alienating people on set wouldn't be a good move for her acting career.

"Alright, if everyone's ready, let's get going," the director said, leading the way towards the dive boat.

* * *

Following the dive safety course, a couple of simple scenes had been filmed, merely showing Roman and Nikki getting out of the sea onto the boat wearing their scuba gear. Grace's only involvement had been standing the background of a shot for one of the scenes, making like she was checking some of the boat's equipment.

The third scene did not feature her at all, so she stood near to the director while Roman and Nikki readied themselves for the call of, "Action."

Part of Grace didn't want to watch. The upcoming scene followed one of Roman and Nikki's emergences from the ocean. By this point in the movie, sexual tension would have been brewing between them for a while. Having successfully extracted the gold tablet from the Poseidon's Secret wreck, they were in a celebratory mood. The celebrations would go to the next level when they kissed each other.

It was like watching a car wreck for Grace. Knowing it was going to happen, she didn't want to watch, but she couldn't look away.

Seeing Roman acting all joyful with Nikki was bad enough. Things soon got worse when their eyes met and the celebration stopped. There was intensity between them. Nikki stepped closer to him, and he leaned down to kiss her. Nikki's hand went to Roman's cheek, and he put an arm around the small of her back as they started smooching each other. Grace felt her fists clenching in anger.

"Cut!" the director called out irritably. "Come on, guys. I've seen more passion at a high school dance. Let's go again, shall we."

Four times Grace was made to stand there and watch Nikki Bella making out with her man. She could quite happily have strangled the bitch given half a chance. Why she had accepted Lucy Thorne's offer of a part in this movie was now a mystery to her. She wanted no part of it if it involved watching shit like that. She knew that her awful mood was going to be impossible to snap out of, which would make filming her scenes so much harder.

"Okay, for the next scene we need you in the water, Grace," the director said. "Get your gear on, please."

Grace nodded acknowledgement and walked to the back of the boat where the scuba gear was stashed.

Roman followed her and sat down beside her as she started putting her fins on. "This is what you've been looking forward to," he said cheerfully.

"Mmm hmm," she replied icily. She got a curious look in response, but Roman thought better of asking her what was wrong. Good, Grace thought. The less said about it, the better.

BREAK

"I know something's wrong, babe. I need you to tell me what it is," Roman said, now showing signs of irritation himself. He and Grace were back in their hotel room after the day's filming, and she had just come out of the shower. As much as she wanted to snap out of the awful mood that dogged her for most of the day, it just wasn't happening. Having to watch Roman and Nikki get it on in three different scenes had left her feeling ready to lash out at someone.

"Nothing's wrong," she insisted, standing in front of a mirror and brushing her hair in a manner that made her denial one of the least convincing things said by anyone in human history.

Roman stepped up behind her. When he spoke, the irritation was gone from his voice. "Babe, you need to talk to me. I can't help if I don't know..."

"I can't stand seeing her kiss you!" Grace exploded, rounding on him. "I can't stand it. The way she kisses you, seeing her hands on you, it makes me feel physically sick."

Roman looked surprised by her outburst, but he did his best to respond in an understanding way. "Grace, I'm acting. Nikki is acting. You've got acting experience yourself, so you know this. There are absolutely no feelings or attraction from me to Nikki, I assure you, and I'm positive she feels the same way."

Grace could tell that he was upset by what was essentially an accusation, and she immediately started to feel bad for the way she had been acting. "Fine, you don't have feelings for her. That doesn't make it any easier to watch you kiss her. She's more attractive than me. She's more glamorous than me. I..."

"Stop," Roman said gently. "Listen to me, she is not more attractive than you, not at all. Glamorous? So what if she wears expensive dresses and shit. Grace, yesterday I asked you to move in with me. We're in a relationship, and I'm the happiest I can remember being. I love you, god damn it. So when I kiss Nikki Bella, I am acting, and nothing more."

"You love me?" Grace asked slowly, hit by a wave of anger at herself for how she had acted.

"Yes, I love you," Roman said, embracing her and meeting no resistance. "That wasn't exactly how I wanted to say it for the first time, but yes, I love you."

"I'm sorry, Rome. I don't know what came over me," she said, holding him tightly. "I was just so... angry seeing her kissing you. There's no reason I can give other than I love you too. A stupid way of showing it, I know. But Rome, I have never been with anyone I've truly loved before. I know that now because of how I feel about you. It's different with you. Being without you would be like having my heart ripped out."

"Look at me," Roman said, stepping back a bit but keeping his arms around her.

Grace looked up into his eyes, seeing nothing but love there.

"You're not going to be without me. And you don't have to get upset about Nikki Bella. Grace Stone is the only woman for me."

"Promise?" she said, trying to make a joke out of it now that she realised how stupid she had been.

"Promise," Roman said, giving her a peck on the lips. "Actually, while we were packing up, you had walked off somewhere, Nikki invited us to dinner, her treat. Ricardo is going too." Ricardo was the actor of Brazilian descent who was playing Nikki's research assistant in the movie.

"She did?"

"Yeah. She said downstairs in the hotel restaurant. Nothing fancy, just a nice meal to kick off our month together and get to know each other. It's a nice offer. I think we should go."

"You're right, we should," Grace said after a moment. "And I should probably apologise to Nikki. I'm sure I came across as rude at best today."

"I'm not going to comment on that," Roman said with a wry smile.

Grace cringed. "Oh god. I'm lucky you talked some sense into me. Let me get changed into something a bit nicer and we'll go down."

"I'll text Nikki and let her know. She gave me her number when she made the offer."

Grace gave him an, "Oh, did she?" kind of look. By now, they both knew that it came with humour, not anger.


	15. Chapter 15

"Maybe I could have her for Boxing Day?" Grace heard Roman saying when she came out of the bathroom. Ahead of the dinner that Nikki Bella had invited them to, Grace had decided to put on some makeup. Roman had apparently made a phone call while she was in there.

"Yeah, it will be weird for her not seeing me on Christmas Day. It'll be weird for me, too. I'll tell her she gets to celebrate Christmas twice, that ought to help."

Grace realised that Roman was talking to Andrea, making plans for seeing Layla for Christmas. If all went well, filming of Poseidon's Secret would be over by then. Even if it wasn't, everyone on the project had been guaranteed a few days at home. Walking over to the bed, where Roman was sitting, she gave him a sympathetic smile. Christmas Day without seeing Layla would be tough on him, as he had just said.

"Okay, good," Roman said into the phone. "Yeah, if Lay is still up, put her on. Actually, can you get her to call me back on FaceTime? I miss her face."

Bless, Grace thought, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"Thanks," Roman said to Andrea. He ended the call and spoke to Grace. "I won't be long, just need to speak to Layla for a bit before we go."

"Take as long as you like. The meal can wait," Grace said easily.

Roman's phone rang. He answered the call, holding the phone in front of him so that he was looking into the front facing camera. "Layla! How are you, sweet pea?"

"Hi, daddy!" came Layla's excited reply, making Grace smile. "Are you making the movie?"

"I was, we've finished for today." They proceeded to talk about how Layla's day had been for a couple of minutes until Roman said, "Lay, I was talking to your mom about Christmas. I'm not going to be able to see you on the day, but you can come stay with me and Grace on Boxing Day. How does that sound?"

"Okay, I guess," Layla said uncertainly.

"Look at it this way, sweetie. You get to celebrate Christmas twice!"

"Oh! Two lots of presents!" Layla said excitedly, making Grace burst out laughing along with Roman.

"Yes, two lots of presents. And two lots of Christmas dinner."

"Two Christmas Days sounds good."

The Christmas discussion continued for a while. Suddenly, Layla changed the subject. "How is Grace's arm?"

"Oh bless," Grace mouthed to Roman. Layla was talking about the supposed injury that she had suffered at the hands of Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series.

"She's here with me. You can ask her if you like?" Roman said to Layla.

"Okay," Layla said.

Grace beamed at Roman as he handed the phone over, delighted that he wanted to involve her in a conversation with his daughter.

Taking the phone, Grace saw Layla on the screen. She was holding the phone quite close to her, but the wallpaper in the background definitely belonged to a child's bedroom. "Hi, Layla!" she said, smiling warmly.

"Hi, Grace! How's your arm?"

"It's still a bit banged up. That nasty Charlotte did a number on me, so I might not be wrestling until after Christmas."

"I hope you get her back when you return."

"Oh, trust me, I will," Grace said, loving the innocence of a kid with no earthly idea that kayfabe was a thing.

"Good. Can you put my dad back on, please?"

"Sure. I'll see you Boxing Day, Layla."

"Bye," Layla said happily.

Roman took the phone back and talked for a few more minutes before saying goodnight. With the call over with, it was time to head down to the hotel's restaurant.

"It'll be weird celebrating Christmas on Boxing Day," Roman said as he got up off the bed.

Grace also got up, giving him a peck on the lips. "I know, honey. But we'll make it just like a second Christmas for Layla. I'll cook a traditional Christmas dinner for us all. Maybe we'll save our gifts to each other until she's with us?"

"You'd do all that?" Roman asked, surprised in the best possible way.

"Of course. I want Layla to have a Christmas with her dad, and I want you to have one with her."

"That means a lot to me," Roman said, his voice containing noticeable emotion. He embraced her and kissed her on the forehead. "You're an angel, you know that?"

"I'm not sure about that, after how I acted today. But I like Layla a lot. I want her to be happy, not least because I know that it's so important to you, for obvious reasons. Being with someone who has a child with someone else was never a situation I thought I'd find myself in, so I'm trying to do my best while feeling out of my depth."

"It must be hard. I'm sorry, Grace, for not putting more thought into it from your point of view. Again, I can't tell you how much it means to me that you genuinely care about Lay. Some people might have looked at her as annoying baggage that came with me."

"Those people would be assholes," Grace said simply. "Rome, if we're going to this dinner we had better move."

Roman nodded, putting his phone into his pants pocket. "You're right, let's go."

"By the way, how is the progress with Layla's Christmas gift?" Grace asked. She knew that the gift was going to be a wrestling ring, built in a converted outbuilding at the side of Roman's back garden. It wouldn't be any old wrestling ring, either. Roman had done a deal with Lucy Thorne to have some of WWE's people building it to their standards, albeit on a smaller scale.

"They're working on it while we're over here filming. It will be done before Christmas. Lay's going to love it, because it's going to be a bigger ring than the one she has at Andrea's place."

The house that Roman and Andrea had bought and shared with each other was now referred to as Andrea's place, Grace noticed. She had to like the unconscious distancing that conveyed.

After a final check to make sure they had everything they needed, they left the room. "Should I get her a gift?" Grace asked as they walked in the direction of the elevators.

"Do you want to?" Roman asked. His tone indicated that he would be okay with either answer.

"Yes, but is it appropriate? I mean, will Andrea object? It might seem weird having her ex-husband's new partner buying gifts for her daughter. But then it might seem rude and ignorant if I don't. I'm not sure where I stand to be honest."

Roman gave her a relaxed smile. "If you want to buy Layla a gift, buy one. I'm sure she'll be delighted that you thought of her."

Reaching the bank of elevators, Grace pushed the button to summon one to their floor. "Okay, I will. What do you think she would like?"

"I don't know how much you're thinking of spending, but she was saying the other day that she's outgrowing the ring attire I bought her to use."

"Interesting," Grace said thoughtfully. "I could get onto the company I get my gear from and sort something out."

"Lay would love that. And I could help you with the sizing."

"Sounds good," Grace said with a smile.

An electronic ping signalled the arrival of an elevator. They rode down to the lobby and soon found the restaurant where Nikki had arranged to meet them. The hotel actually had two restaurants. To Grace's pleasant surprise, they were going to be eating in the less formal of the two. Overly-stuffy places were not her thing at all. She would have expected it to be right up Nikki's street, but apparently that was judging a book by its cover.

Walking in, Grace saw a trendy bar and restaurant that was quite busy. Many people were eating, she saw, which gave her the impression that the food here was good, as expected in a four star hotel.

"There they are," Roman said, spotting Nikki and Ricardo sitting at a table for four near to the back of the restaurant area.

Following Roman as he weaved his way through the tables towards their co-stars, Grace told herself to make the most of this second chance to make an impression with Nikki, if that was possible. She had been a moody, sulky bitch all day on set, and now felt bad about it. With luck, it might not be held against her too much.

"Hi, guys!" Nikki said cheerfully as they approached. "We were starting to think you weren't coming."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was on the phone to my daughter," Roman said as he pulled out the chair beside Ricardo and sat down, leaving Grace to sit next to Nikki.

Greetings were exchanged, then Nikki said, "You have to order at the bar." She had a bottle of red wine on the table, whereas Ricardo had a beer in front of him that was about three quarters empty.

"I'll go up," Roman said, rising to his feet. "What are you having, Grace?"

"I don't know. What are you having?" she replied, unsure what to choose.

"I think I might have a few beers tonight." Roman didn't drink often, but tonight was a worthy occasion.

"Then I'll have whatever beer you're having," Grace decided.

Ricardo downed his beer and stood up also. "I'll come with you, Roman."

The men walked off towards the bar, leaving Grace with Nikki. It was the perfect opportunity to apologise. "Nikki, I'm sorry if I seemed off with you today. I don't know what came over me, I..."

Nikki had a knowing smile on her face, and decided to cut in. "How long have you been dating Roman?"

"What?" Grace asked, caught off guard. "Not all that long. Uh, how did you know?"

"You watched me kiss him and you looked ready to slit my throat," Nikki said, chuckling. "Grace, let me put your mind at ease. I'm not the least bit interested in Roman. He's not particularly my type, and even if he was, I'm in a relationship with someone. I'm acting out my role in the movie, and nothing more, as is Roman. You have nothing to fear from me, alright?" she finished, her tone reassuring.

"Right. I mean, of course. I know I was acting stupidly," Grace said, raging at herself again.

"Forget it," Nikki said graciously. "Let's pretend today didn't happen, and we'll start over. Roman said you have more than a hundred dives to your name, now that is impressive!"

"Thanks," Grace smiled, appreciating the graciousness and the compliment. "Diving has been a hobby of mine since I was a kid. One day, after I've finished wrestling, I want to become an instructor. I've thought about buying my own boat, starting a business somewhere and making a living out of it."

Nikki sipped from her glass of wine. "If that's what you want to do, you should start the business."

"I can't. The schedule with WWE is hectic," Grace explained. "We're lucky if we get a couple of days at home every couple of weeks."

"You misunderstand me," Nikki said, but she was interrupted before she could elaborate by the guys returning to the table with the beers.

"What are we talking about?" Roman asked pleasantly, putting a beer down in front of Grace. He looked pleased to see her and Nikki apparently getting along.

"Thank you. Nikki was just encouraging me to start the dive instructor business I've been talking about," Grace said. "But I was telling her I can't because of our schedule."

"Let me explain what I meant," Nikki said as Roman and Ricardo retook their seats. "I'm not saying you need to quit wrestling, I'm saying start the company. Building a brand is something I know about as I've got a clothing line and a vineyard. You know better than me what is involved in starting up the business you're interested in, but in simple terms, found a company, buy a boat, if you can afford it, and hire someone to be your captain or instructor, whatever you call it. Have them work for you."

"That's an interesting idea," Grace said with some excitement, looking at Roman. He had a 'maybe she's onto something' look on his face.

"That way," Nikki continued, "while you're still working for WWE, you're making a second income from your business, and assuming you hire someone good at the job, you're building a reputation for your company at the same time. Whenever the time is right for you, you can either buy a second boat and potentially make even more money, or you can let your captain go and take over from then. My basic point is there's a lot worth thinking about in terms of starting your company as soon as you're ready. There's no time like the present to make big steps in your life."

Grace felt like she had just heard something incredibly profound, and from what had seemed like the most unlikely of sources. "Thanks for the advice, Nikki, seriously. I'll put some thought into that."

"You're welcome. See, I'm not such a bitch after all," Nikki said good good-naturedly.

There was laughter around the table. Grace felt like the ice was now broken, allowing her to look forward to the rest of the night, and to the rest of the filming for Poseidon's Secret.


	16. Chapter 16

It was Christmas Day number two in Roman and Grace's house. It was now their house as she had moved in, or at least had started to move in. They had only been back from Jamaica for a few days after the successful conclusion to filming Poseidon's Secret, therefore some of her things still remained to be moved out of her place. When that was done, she would be paying someone to give it a professional clean from top to bottom ahead of putting it on the rental market.

Although she was still getting used to her new surroundings, Grace liked the house a lot. It was bigger than hers, and had been expensively and tastefully renovated fairly recently. It did trouble her a bit that Andrea had probably had a lot of say in it, but then it wasn't as if she hadn't known that Roman was recently divorced when the relationship started. She hardly had cause for complaint.

In the outbuilding at the side of the garden, Layla's main gift was waiting. WWE's crew had made an excellent job of building one of their rings, albeit on a smaller scale. Every detail from the turnbuckle covers to the ring aprons was a replica of a Monday Night Raw ring, apart from obviously not having an LED apron on one side. Layla was bound to love it.

For her gift to Layla, Grace had purchased a set of ring attire from the company who made the ones she used herself. Roman had said Layla's favourite colours were red and black, so Grace had ordered an intricate design using those colours on a sports bra and a pair of wrestling pants. The set was folded up in a box, wrapped up and placed under the Christmas tree in the living room, along with the other gifts that were waiting to be given out.

Roman had gone to pick Layla up from Andrea's place. While she waited for their arrival, Grace had started her food prep for the Christmas dinner that she would be making later.

"Thank god that's over," she said to herself, having just finished stuffing the turkey, the one part of the prep that she really hadn't been looking forward to.

She had finished just in time, for she heard the distinctive sound of Roman's Ford GT parking up out front. Pulling off the rubber gloves that she had worn to protect herself against the nastiness of sticking her hand inside a turkey, she tossed them aside on the kitchen island and walked down the hallway towards the front door. To make herself look festive, she was wearing a red Santa hat and a dark blue pullover with a reindeer on it.

The front door opened and Layla rushed in, carrying a backpack that would contain everything she needed for her overnight stay.

"Grace!" Layla shrieked excitedly.

"Layla! Merry Christmas!" Grace replied with equal excitement.

Roman walked in and closed the door, smiling contentedly at how happy his daughter and his girlfriend were to see each other. He looked quite a sight, wearing a red pullover with a Christmas tree on it.

"Merry Christmas. Having two Christmases is weird," Layla said.

"But it's weird in a good way, right?" Roman said.

"Yes!" Layla said, turning to look at him. "Do I give Grace her gift now?"

"Let's go into the living room and we can all give each other gifts," Roman said. "Do you need the bathroom or a drink first?"

"Some juice, please."

Juice was how Layla requested orange juice, her favourite drink, Grace knew by now. "I'll get it," she offered. "Do you want anything, Rome?"

"Coffee would be good," he said with a smile.

Returning to the kitchen, Grace moved the stuffed turkey over to the work surface next to the oven, then set about fixing the drinks. Although Layla wasn't her daughter, she was excited about having her over for a Christmas celebration, even on the wrong day. She couldn't imagine how much it meant to Roman. He had talked about it a lot over the past few days, which Grace had found adorable. He was such a good dad, doing his absolute best in a less than ideal situation.

When she carried the drinks through to the living room, Grace found Roman and Layla sitting on the floor near the Christmas tree. She put the two coffees on the mantelpiece above the large marble fireplace that was the centrepiece of the room. Handing the glass of juice over to Layla, Grace sat down next to Roman so that they formed something of a semicircle around the tree.

"I think Layla should be in charge of handing out the gifts," Roman said.

"Good idea," Grace said, smiling. "Who's going to get the first one, Lay?"

"Me!" Layla cried, to the surprise of no one. Grace laughed. Three more gifts were now stashed under the tree, she saw. They must have come out of Layla's backpack.

Sorting through the packages, Layla took a quick look at each tag to see who they were for. "I've got three!" she announced, separating them into her own little group.

"Open one for now, and we'll take it in turns," Roman said.

"Okay." Layla selected one of the two smaller gifts, presumably because she had seen the smaller two were from her dad. She tore it open, revealing a Playstation 4 game that she had been asking for. "Yay! I was hoping to get this one! Thank you!" she cried, looking at the back of the box.

"Merry Christmas, sweet pea," Roman said, smiling.

Grace bit her bottom lip, feeling like she might tear up at any second, witnessing such an adorable family moment.

"Merry Christmas! Your turn next, dad," Layla said, handing him one of the gifts she had brought with her.

Roman made a show of reading the tag, although he knew full well it was from Layla. "To dad, love from Layla," he read. He tore off the gift wrapping. Inside was a special Christmas box from an online company that specialised in custom designed cups. He opened the box up and pulled out a white cup that had 'World's best dad' printed on it in coloured lettering, along with a photo of Roman and Layla.

"Wow, look at this!" Roman said, overjoyed with the gift that Angie had obviously helped Layla to put together. "Thanks, Lay! I love it."

"Now you can see me when I'm not here," Layla said.

Grace looked away for a moment, feeling herself tearing up this time. She heard Roman make an emphatic kissing sound, probably as he kissed Layla on the forehead. "I'll use it all the time, sweetheart," he promised, and Grace could hear the lump in his throat.

"Now Grace's turn," Layla said, emotionally unaffected, unlike the adults.

Grace took a deep breath and composed herself. "Let's see what I've got!" she said enthusiastically as Layla handed her a pre-wrapped gift that sounded and felt like a box of chocolates. She realised Roman must have bought it, and given it to Layla so that she had a gift to give to her. It was typical of how thoughtful he was.

"That one is from me," Layla said as Grace tore the wrapping open.

"Thank you, Layla! My favourite chocolates!" Grace exclaimed, although in truth she rarely even ate chocolates.

"Now my turn!" Layla said, already having a go at her next gift, which Grace knew was another Playstation game. Little did Layla know, her main gift from her dad wasn't to be found under the tree.

Roman's turn was next. He received his second gift from Layla. This time it was a framed picture of Layla, with a poem about a daughter loving her dad beside it.

"I'm going to put that up right there," he promised Layla, pointing to a picture above the mantelpiece that was soon going to lose pride of place.

"Okay," Layla said simply.

"Grace's turn next," Roman said. A smile appeared on his face, for the gift about to be handed over was his.

"Thank you," Grace said as she took the gift from Layla. She had no idea what Roman had bought her, and holding the gift didn't give much away. All she could tell was that it was a fairly large, sturdy box. She started tearing open the wrapping, only to discover a simple black box with no decoration, company name or anything on it.

"I wonder what's in here," she said, genuinely intrigued. Setting the wrapping aside, she lifted the lid of the box.

"Your gift couldn't actually be here today, I'm afraid," Roman said.

Grace's mouth fell open. She was looking at a large glossy photograph of a dive boat. There was actually a stack of photos in the box, she realised. The top one showed the boat moored to a dock, its white body and silver detailing gleaming in the sunlight, looking brand new. "No way! You did not buy me a dive boat!" she gasped, looking up at Roman, her eyes wide.

"That's exactly what I did," he beamed. "It's not new by any means, but it's in excellent condition. I paid someone who knows boats to give it a thorough look over before I bought it."

"Rome, I don't know what to say. I didn't spend anywhere near this amount on you. I mean, Christ, it must have cost a fortune."

"Forget money," Roman said. "I did this because I love you, and because I think you needed a bit of a nudge into starting your business venture. Nikki Bella's idea was an excellent one. I know you thought so too, but I sensed you weren't going to take the plunge, so to speak. Now you will."

"Rome, I can't believe this," Grace breathed. While he spoke, she had been flicking through the stack of photographs. The full set showed every area and room on the boat from multiple angles. It all looked in fantastic condition, and would be perfect for dive charters of a few people at a time, which was exactly what she had in mind for her dive instructor business.

"Believe it, because it's real, and it's yours. It's down in Miami, so it's about a three hour drive away. Obviously it can be moved elsewhere, but I did some research and Miami looks to be popular with divers. Oh, and I've had the boat's name changed. It's now called Graceful Adventure."

"Can I look?" Layla asked. Getting up, she walked over to Grace, who handed her the photos.

While Layla looked at the pictures, Grace moved over to Roman and hugged him. She felt utterly blown away by his generosity, so much so that words were failing her. "I love you so much. Thank you. I don't know what to say," she blabbered. His thoughtfulness was also incredible, even making the effort to change the boat's name for her.

"Seeing your reaction is all I needed," Roman said. He kissed her passionately on the lips.

"Eww!" Layla shrieked. Grace and Roman both laughed at her reaction.

"I can tell this company is your dream, Grace," Roman said. "You now have someone to help you with it and to share it with you."

"Thank you so much. We have a lot to talk about for sure. I'll never get over this, it's the best gift I've ever had in my life. It's going to put what I've got you to shame."

"Don't be silly," Roman said in a relaxed manner. "I'm sure your gift is going to be amazing. Do you want to get it for me, Lay?"

"It's not your turn!" Layla objected.

"You're right," Roman laughed. "Okay, you have one more gift to open, then I have a bit of a surprise for you."

Layla went over to the tree, fetched her final gift and opened it up. "Oh! I have new ring attire!" she cried.

"Yes, and that's from Grace. You didn't read the label," Roman chastised her gently.

"Thank you," Layla said politely.

"You're welcome, Lay. Take it out and have a proper look," Grace encouraged. She felt like her head was swimming. Roman's incredible gift had literally blown her mind.

Layla took the pants out of the box, followed by the sports bra. "I love the colours!" she said excitedly. "Dad, can I try it on?"

"Soon, sweet pea. We need to finish giving out the gifts first. There's still one left."

"Yes, it's yours from Grace," Layla said, fetching it from under the tree.

Grace watched him tear off the gift wrap and open the box that was contained inside. She had been very pleased with the Tag Heuer diver's watch that she had bought him until she had opened her own gift. The couple of thousand bucks she had spent on him now seemed like nothing at all.

"Wow, look at this! Is this one of those watches you can wear underwater?" he asked, studying the black face with bright yellow numbers and hands.

"Yes it is. I was thinking we'd probably dive together again at some point, and in any case I loved the colours on that watch. I hope you do, too? Most of all, I was thinking that you're always asking me what time it is. Now you won't have to."

Roman laughed. "No, I won't. And yeah, the watch looks great. The yellow will stand out well underwater or whenever I'm somewhere dark. Thanks, babe. I love you." They kissed again, and Grace moaned softly in pleasure.

"Eww! You guys are nasty!" Layla cried.

They both laughed. Getting up, Roman offered his hand to his daughter. "Come on, trouble, there's something I want to show you."

Grace got up as well, wanting to see Layla's reaction to the wrestling ring. She hung back for a moment to have another look at one of the photos of the boat that was now called Graceful Adventure. "He actually bought me a dive boat," she under her breath, still barely able to believe it. She couldn't wait to see it in person. It was also time to start upping her game in terms of researching what else she would have to do to get a company started. With luck, her friend Clementine would be able to help, thanks to her legal knowledge as a junior attorney.

"Coming, Grace?" Roman called from the direction of the back door.

"Yes, I'm coming!" she replied, hurrying from the room.


	17. Chapter 17

"Bye, Layla. See you next time," Grace said cheerfully.

"Bye," Layla said as she got out of the car, having waited for Roman to open her door for her because she was getting out into the street. They were parked just up the street from Andrea's house, dropping Layla off. It was the day after their Boxing Day Christmas celebration.

Grace smiled, looking in the car's rear view mirror to watch Roman and Layla crossing the street hand in hand. Although she wasn't strictly family, the previous day had felt like a family celebration to Grace, even if Layla had wanted to spend most of it in her new wrestling ring, wearing her new ring attire. To say she had been delighted with her gifts would have been the understatement of the century.

While she waited for Roman to drop Layla off and say goodbye, Grace took out her phone, deciding to check her Twitter account. She had been using social media a lot less recently, as people had started getting more abusive towards her. It wasn't to do with her on-screen character either, which was why it troubled her. Most of the abuse revolved around the fact that people seemed to believe she had gotten the role in Poseidon's Secret solely because she was in a relationship with Roman. The relationship was now public knowledge, so she had expected to get some grief over it, but those comments made no sense to her. She had primarily gotten the part because of her acting and diving experience, certainly not because Roman had pulled any strings for her.

When she took out her phone, Grace saw a missed call and a text message on the display, both from Lucy Thorne. "Shit," she said under her breath, wondering how she had managed to leave her phone on silent when she usually turned the sound back on when she woke up each morning. She opened the text message.

_Lucy Thorne: Call me, please. We need to discuss your return to action._

Here we go, Grace thought, unsurprised that she likely wasn't going to join Roman in being afforded time off until the Royal Rumble, which was about a month away.

Grace did have a concern ahead of her comeback. Despite the good work that Zelina had been doing in her absence, there still wasn't much heat on The Stone Roses. Sadly, people simply didn't seem to care enough about the women's tag division.

An idea began to form in Grace's mind. She decided to run it past Roman before returning Thorne's call.

The driver's door opened, startling Grace from her thoughts.

"Bless her, she couldn't wait to tell Andrea about her new ring," Roman said as he got back into the car.

"She's adorable, Rome," Grace smiled. "I had a lovely time yesterday."

"We all did," Roman smiled back. He fired up the car and got them moving. "Next stop, Miami."

Only three hours until I see Graceful Adventure for the first time, Grace thought. It still didn't quite seem real that Roman had bought her a dive boat for Christmas. Already that morning, Grace had put in a call to Clementine, who hadn't hesitated to commit to helping in any way she could with the founding of the new company. The name Miami Diving Adventures had been chosen after a lengthy discussion between Grace and Roman, which had seen them end up back with one of the first names they had come up with. It was simple, described exactly what the company was about, and contained the word adventure so as to keep something of a theme with the name of the boat.

"I can't wait! I'm so excited!" Grace said, wishing Miami was a lot closer to Orlando.

"Me too," Roman laughed happily. "It's the start of a lot of work to get the company going, though."

Grace nodded. For now, her mind was on the idea she had just had for her return. "For sure. Speaking of work, Lucy tried to call me. She wants to talk about my return. I've been thinking about how me and Zel might get some proper heat, and I've just had an idea."

"Really? Let's hear it," Roman said openly as they pulled up at a red light.

"I've noticed I've been getting abuse recently from people who think I got the part on Poseidon's Secret because I'm with you."

"That's ridiculous," Roman said, looking at her.

"I know it is, but that's what they think. Anyway, it got me to thinking that I could suggest to Lucy using that kind of stupidity to our advantage. If I could convince her to give me and Zelina a push, maybe even turn us face, those same idiots would hate on us for the same reason they spent years booing you."

The light went green. Roman chuckled as he pulled away. "You want to be the female Roman Reigns?"

Grace laughed. "I'm saying we could go for the same kind of reaction. Remember how the fans got milked for their reactions back in the Daniel Bryan vs The Authority angle? What if we turned face, but in the full knowledge that we were still going to be booed?"

"Hmm," Roman said thoughtfully. "Do you think Lucy would go for that? Deliberately getting the wrong reaction?"

"We already have people who act like heels but are cheered like babyfaces. Look at Sasha. Look at Becky."

"Maybe you could sell it to Lucy. It's certainly worth a try. One thing I do know from experience is WWE don't particularly care what reaction you get as long as you get one. Call her back and see what she says. It's well known that she likes to see people investing in their characters, so who knows, she might go for it."

"Let's find out," Grace said. She tapped on the notification for the missed call from Lucy and called her number.

The phone was answered after a couple of rings in Thorne's crisp, well-spoken English accent. "Lucy Thorne."

"Hi, Lucy, it's Grace," she said, making her tone professional but cheerful.

"Morning, Grace. Are you well?"

"Yes, thanks. How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm very well," Lucy said brightly. "I need to talk to you about your return to Raw. I'm going to have you back ASAP as I want The Stone Roses back together."

"Sounds good to me," Grace said, summoning her courage as she prepared to take the plunge. "If you don't mind, I have an idea I'd like to put forward. I've been putting a lot of thought into it." It wasn't true, but it was a good thing to say.

"Alright, let me get something to write on," Lucy said in a receptive manner. "Okay, let's hear it."

"So, I was thinking that Zelina and I don't have much heat on us. Maybe we ought to think outside of the box." Grace calculated that would be a good thing to say too, hopefully sparking Lucy's interesting.

"I'm listening," the boss said.

"I've been getting some abuse online from people saying I only got the part in Poseidon's Secret because I'm in a relationship with Roman."

Lucy grunted a laugh. "I didn't even know that until after I offered you the role."

"I know," Grace chuckled. "But nonetheless, that's what they think. So, my idea was to do some reverse phycology on the fans. I was wondering if I could come back with Z and I taking a face turn and getting a bit of a push. I'm willing to bet that people would crap on it, and on me, not knowing that we want exactly that. So, I'd be acting like a babyface, but being booed horrendously."

Grace heard a bang on the other end of the line. It sounded like Lucy slapping a desk or something. "That's it! That's the image I've been looking for, Grace. You and Zelina with those two perfect smiles of yours is striking. I've been telling myself that smugness or condescension was the best way to use that, but no, your idea is better. I see the two of you in the ring, smiling away like you're supposed to getting a rapturous ovation, but you're actually being torn apart by the fans. I love it."

"Really?" Grace asked excitedly. "So we're going to go with the face turn that we know isn't going to be a face turn?"

"Yes. Becky will be back soon. I'm thinking of the reaction if we booked you as they babyfaces against her, and have Becky supposedly as the heel. The fans would be up in arms about it. They would turn against you so hard, and would insist on cheering Becky all the more."

Grace laughed. "God, they really would."

"Grace, I'm going to get my writing team in the office and we're going to work on this. The office will send you some travel details, and you'll be on Raw this coming Monday. By then, plans will be in place, and we'll talk again."

"Awesome! Thanks, Lucy," Grace said excitedly.

"You're welcome. I'll see you on Monday," Lucy said before ending the call.

"Sounds like she went for it," Roman observed with a smile, keeping his eyes on the busy road.

"She didn't just go for it, she loved it!" Grace exclaimed. "Z and I are getting another run with Becky when she comes back, with us supposedly the faces."

Roman sniggered. "I'm sure that's going to work. Of course, we know it's not intended to work. It's quite clever in its own way."

"The main thing is it will stop Zelina and I going stale. That's what I wanted to avoid."

"That's not going to happen," Roman said with conviction.

"That's one thing off my mind anyway," Grace said after they had travelled for a minute or so in a companionable silence.

"Right. Now, there's a lot we need to do for Miami Diving Adventures," Roman said. "Even describing it as a lot is an understatement. We've got to recruit an instructor, who needs to be certified and experienced, good at entertaining clients before and after the dive. They also need to be good with the admin side of things as they'll be dealing with payments and things like that."

Grace nodded, appreciating that Roman had used the word we even though he had declined to have a stake in the business, against her own wishes. He was simply being a supportive partner, which meant a lot to her. "Yes. That's a lot of skills we need. I'm going to look into advertising in Miami as soon as Clem has helped me get the company founded. I also need to apply for a dive instructor course for myself. I might do that in a minute," she said, pulling her iPad out of the pocket in the side of the door.

"Then there's the dive shop to consider," Roman said, and Grace nodded. When discussing the business plan the previous evening, they had agreed that to make a real success of the business they would need a shop somewhere close to the centre of Miami where footfall was guaranteed. Diving courses, excursions and equipment would all be on sale at Miami Diving Adventures. Opening a shop obviously required investment, with a retail unit needing to be rented, branded, and stocked with products. Additionally, at least two assistants would need to be employed to run it.

"I think this is what mom would have wanted me to use the money for," Grace said, referring to the large compensation payment she had received from the airline after the plane crash that had killed her mother.

"Oh, for sure," Roman said, giving her a quick sympathetic look. "You're investing it into something you love and building something for the future. We all know wrestling isn't a career most people can make a living from forever. It's important to have something lined up when retirement does come. You're doing that. Honestly, it's something I need to think about."

"Rome, I know we talked about this last night and you said no, but I want us to make Miami Diving Adventures a joint venture between us. I mean, you did buy the boat. I know what you're going to say – that it was a gift, but even so, I want you to be my partner in this. Hopefully it'll take off and make us some good money. Like you were just saying, it'll give us something for our future, and for Layla's future as well."

Roman glanced at her again, looking into her eyes. "You're serious about this, aren't you?"

"Totally. To be honest, I feel uncomfortable with the idea of you not being an equal owner with me. It's clear we're both going to put work into it, so it should be divided up equally. Please, Rome, I want you to be my partner in this thing. I want us to share it together. Yes, it's my dream, but it will be our business."

Glancing at her again, Roman smiled. "I didn't want to come across like I was muscling in on your dream, but I can see that's not how you feel about it."

"Of course it isn't," she laughed. "Nothing would make me happier than for us to be partners in this business. I want us to do it all together, building it up from nothing to be something we're both so proud of."

"Then we'll do it together," Roman said happily. "We'll turn this dream into reality. I love you, Grace."

"I love you too, honey," she replied, meaning it now more than ever.


	18. Chapter 18

Three and a half hours after dropping Layla off at home, Roman and Grace had arrived in Miami. They had cruised around the city centre for a while, scouting out potential locations for their future dive shop. A stop at Starbucks had been essential, and with coffee on hand it had finally been time to head to the docks, where Graceful Adventure was waiting for them.

Grace felt an almost childlike excitement inside her as they neared the docks. Her very own dive boat! The key component for starting the business of her dreams! It didn't escape her that she felt pretty much the same way Layla had the day before when she had seen her new wrestling ring.

"Okay, it's around here somewhere," Roman said, bringing the car to a stop in an empty parting space just off the road that ran along the docks.

Grace had been looking at the boats that they had been cruising past. She had seen dive boats, but not the one that she had been constantly looking at photos of for the past twenty four hours. Grabbing her handbag , she got out of the car so quickly that she almost spilled her coffee.

Killing the engine, Roman got out at a more reasonable speed. "I was told she's docked close to the far end, near to where the fishing boats come in."

Grace looked in the direction of the fishing vessels, which wasn't hard to figure out thanks to a large flock of noisy seagulls that were congregating above the far end of the docks. "I hope they haven't been shitting on my boat," she said.

Laughing loudly, Roman took her hand as they walked in that direction. "I hope not. I'd imagine they're more interested in the fishing boats."

Within moments they walked past a large silver dive boat, and there, suddenly, was Graceful Adventure. She was smaller than the silver boat that had been obscuring her, but she was nonetheless plenty big enough for the kind of charters Grace intended to run. The paint work and the silver detailing gleamed, just the way they had in the photos. The name on the back of the boat had even been repainted, in fancy gold lettering.

"Oh, Rome, she's beautiful. I'm going to cry," Grace said, moving a hand to her mouth.

"Isn't she?" he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Don't cry, let's go and have a look around her."

Grace tried to compose herself as they walked around the dock towards the ramp that led to Graceful Adventure. In the next dock along, a fishing boat had recently pulled in. There were several crew members working on unloading their catch, with seagulls watching on in case there was a chance to pounce.

Grace only had eyes for her own boat. Roman hung back to allow her to walk down the short ramp first. It connected near to the back of the boat, where there was an open area for passenger seating. Against one side of the boat there was a storage area for safe transportation of scuba gear.

Moving inside the boat's structure, there was another seating area with comfortable cushioned seats and walls that were almost entirely windowed. This would be where people would change into their dive gear, or relax on the way back from their excursions.

The driving seat was on the left hand side at the front, with stairs leading down to a lower deck on the right hand side.

"Rome, it's incredible," Grace breathed as she walked slowly towards the front. "If I didn't know better, I'd think it was brand new."

"They sure did a good job of cleaning it before putting it up for sale," Roman said, looking over his purchase in person for the first time himself. "I know they had all the seats re-cushioned, so that's why they look so good."

"My mind is blown again. I've said it so many times, but thank you, honey. There literally could not have been a gift I would have loved more than this." Grace stood by the driver's seat for a moment, looking at the controls.

"I'm glad you love it as much as I hoped you would," Roman said, walking up behind her. He put his arms around her waist and she nestled against him.

"Wait, do we have keys?" she asked, looking down the short flight of stairs. At the bottom there was a locked wooden door. Grace knew that on the lower deck there was a toilet, a small galley and another seating area that was intended for the crew. She recalled the photos she had looked at so many times, and she was able to picture every detail of it.

Roman rummaged in his pocket and produced a set of keys. "Look what we have here. Actually, I have two sets."

Before taking the keys, Grace downed the last of the cup of coffee she had been carrying. With that done, she walked down the steps and opened the door. "It even smells new," was her first observation as she walked into the galley, dropping her coffee cup into a trash can.

"That's the smell of freshly-polished wood," Roman said, inhaling deeply to savour it.

"Lovely, isn't it?" Grace asked, smiling at him.

"You what is lovely? That smile of yours," he said, walking up to her. His tone made what he was thinking perfectly clear.

"Oh yeah?" Grace said in a sultry voice. When he reached her, she put her hands on his muscular chest. "Not as lovely as that body of yours."

"I think we should christen this boat," Roman said, looking at her with desire burning in his eyes.

"And how do you propose to do that?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"By fucking you on that couch over there."

Grace decided to let her actions speak louder than words, reaching up and pulling his head down to her level so that she could kiss him. She squealed in delight when he roughly picked her up, causing her handbag to fall to the floor. He carried her over to the aforementioned couch and set her down on it, kissing her the whole time.

"In my bag. The side pocket," she gasped between kisses after she was deposited on the couch. She didn't need to be clearer about the fact that she meant there was a condom in there. She always carried a couple, just in case something like this happened.

"Don't move," he said gruffly before going over to her bag.

Left on the couch, Grace frantically pulled her pants and underwear down, wanting to be ready for him when he came back.

In short order, Roman found the condoms, took off his jeans and pulled down his boxers.

"You look ready for me, baby," Grace said, longingly looking at his rock hard cock.

"Oh, I've been looking forward to this all morning," he assured her, walking back over to the couch.

The sex was aggressive in its passion. This was no elaborate lovemaking session, it was a fuck that they both desperately needed. Within minutes, Grace was crying out in ecstasy, digging her nails into Roman's back without being aware that she was doing it.

Roman grunted and groaned with the effort he was putting into pounding her. "Come, Grace! Fuck! Come for me!" he growled.

Grace arched her back, crying out loudly as she peaked.

"That's it! That's it!" Roman encouraged, before letting out a loud cry of his own as he erupted. Panting, he finished unloading over the course of another three thrusts.

It was over. Grace lay there with her mind blown by the short but fiery encounter. "I'll never forget my first time on the boat," she breathed, trying to regain her breath.

"That was a Graceful Adventure," Roman said as he pulled out of her.

"There was nothing graceful about it, and I'm glad," she said.

Roman grunted a laugh. "Me too."

Ten minutes later, they were walking back out into open area at the back of the boat, appearing to any passers-by as if nothing more than a walk around the boat had happened. At least, that was unless passers-by had been able to hear Grace's screams of delight, she realised, feeling mortified by the prospect but nonetheless regretting nothing.

"Maybe we should take her for a quick run out?" Grace asked, meaning putting Graceful Adventure to sea.

"Have you driven a boat before? Because I never have," Roman said.

"A few times, yeah. I'd be okay handling her."

"Afternoon!" a man's voice called out from the dock, causing Grace and Roman to turn in that direction. She saw one of the fishermen from the boat moored closest to Graceful Adventure standing at the top of the ramp.

"Good afternoon," Grace called back. The old man looked pleasant enough, and his tone had been cheerful.

"You're the new owners?" the fisherman asked.

"We sure are. I'm Grace, and this is Roman."

"Hi," Roman called.

"Tully Blanchard," the fisherman replied. "I didn't think it would be long before someone showed up, once I saw the name being changed the other day. I guess now I know why you chose Graceful Adventure."

"Come on-board, it will save us shouting," Grace said.

Blanchard walked down the ramp, but stopped short of stepping off it onto the boat. "I won't come any further. My boots would soon make a mess of your nice clean deck. So, I assume you're going to be running a diving charter?"

Grace nodded, walking over to the ramp. "That's right. We're launching a company that's going to be called Miami Diving Adventures. We've heard there is good business to be done down here."

"Oh, there is," Blanchard assured her. "You're not from Miami?"

"Orlando," Roman said.

"Ah, okay. You're moving down here?"

"Actually, no. We travel a lot for the company we both work for, so we're actually going to be recruiting someone to run the boat for us. I don't suppose you know of any good diving instructors looking for work, do you?" Grace figured there was no harm in asking, imagining that someone like Blanchard knew a lot of what went on around the Miami docks. He certainly gave the impression that he was a people person.

A smile appeared on Blanchard's face. "Actually, I do. I admit, that's kind of why I came over here to speak to you. You see, my daughter is a diving instructor. She used to run a charter for a guy called Jerry Jarrett. He passed away a month or so back, and his wife decided to close down the business and sell his boat. A stupid decision if you ask me, but it's up to her. It left my Tessa out of work."

Grace and Roman looked at each other, both thinking that this might be a stroke of luck for all concerned. "Don't take this the wrong way, but is she good?" Grace asked Blanchard. "I mean, I need someone who is a good instructor, who can entertain clients before and after a dive, and is also good at the admin side of things."

"I'll be honest with you, she doesn't have much experience with admin," Blanchard admitted. "Jerry used to handle that side of things, and he never taught her much. But she ran his charters for six years, and as far as I'm aware she got great feedback from clients. She's been diving since she was ten years old, and it's her great passion in life."

Grace looked at Roman. She was impressed with what she was hearing, however anyone could talk a good game. "We could meet her?" she suggested.

"I think that's a good idea," Roman said. He looked at Blanchard. "We can't promise anything, but we'd be willing to meet Tessa and have a chat with her. The only thing is, we're only in town today."

"Really? I'd greatly appreciate you giving her an interview. I think she's home today, so I could call her and have her come meet you? Also, on what you said about the admin side of things, I might not look like it dressed like this, but I know my way around a calculator and a set of accounts. I'd be willing to help her pick up what she needs to know."

Grace nodded, appreciating the honesty and the effort the guy was willing to go to if it meant finding work for his daughter. "Call Tessa and see if she can meet us. Maybe you can recommend somewhere we can talk over a nice lunch? I'm starving."

"Now that does sound like a plan," Roman said.


	19. Chapter 19

The best burgers in Miami, Grace read from the menu she was holding. It made her smile, for that was exactly what Tully Blanchard had promised them when he had given them the name and location of the restaurant she and Roman were now sitting in.

"It's been a long time since I demolished a burger," Roman said. "Eating something filthy can be a good thing from time to time."

"Amen to that," Grace said. "Besides, we'll be back in the gym tomorrow. What are you thinking of getting?"

"The barbeque cheese and bacon burger has caught my eye. How about you?"

Grace looked at him and gave him a smile that had an element of mischief about it. "Hot chilli burger."

"Of course," he chuckled. "I forgot you get chilli with everything."

"One day you're going to come around to the right way of eating things."

A young female server approached their table, an enthusiastic smile on her face. "Hi, guys! Are you ready to order?"

"We're actually waiting for someone to join us," Grace said pleasantly. "But I'll get a Coke, please."

"Make that two," Roman said.

"Alright, two Cokes coming up." The server set of to fix their drinks.

Grace and Roman were sitting beside each other, leaving Tessa Blanchard to sit opposite them when she arrived. It was the right way do things, considering that the upcoming chat over a late lunch was essentially going to be a job interview.

"What a stroke of luck to meet someone who could put us in touch with an experienced diving instructor who is looking for work," Grace said.

"Yeah," Roman nodded. "I'm going to need more than a sales pitch from her dad before I'm convinced about hiring her, though."

"Oh, for sure," Grace agreed. "I'm not saying it's a done deal, just that it was a stroke of luck to come across someone like that. And if she does the fit the bill of what we're looking for, it's one big item crossed off our list towards the business running."

"True. But let's keep in mind that we want the right person, not the first person."

"Noted," Grace said seriously. Her attention was drawn to a strikingly attractive woman with black hair who was limping in their direction. She looked to be in her late twenties, and was dressed smart-casual in a black shirt and pants. Her arms were muscular, Grace saw. In fact, she wouldn't have look out of place in a wrestling ring with a physique like that. She was carrying what looked like an iPad.

"Grace? Roman?" the woman asked hopefully as she approached them.

"That's right. You must be Tessa," Roman said, standing to greet her out of politeness.

"Nice to meet you. Thanks for agreeing to meet me," Tessa said as they shook hands.

"Thanks for coming," Grace said when her turn came to shake hands. "That's quite a limp you've got there."

"Isn't it?" Tessa smiled at her own expense. "Thankfully, it's not permanent. I tripped down my stairs a few days back. I was lucky I didn't break something."

"I'm glad you didn't," Grace said with a grimace. "Please, have a seat."

The three of them sat down, Tessa taking the seat opposite Grace and putting her iPad on the table. Before they had a chance to start the conversation proper, the server returned with the two drinks that had been ordered. "Two Cokes," she announced, putting them on the table. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked Tessa.

"Coke is good for me too, please."

"Coming up."

"Your dad said the burgers are to die for here," Roman said to Tessa.

"They really are. Sadly I had just eaten something when he called me, otherwise I would totally have one."

"That's a shame," Roman said. "We'll order when she brings your drink, then we can get down to business."

They made small talk for a couple of minutes until the server brought Tessa's Coke over. Roman ordered the two burgers for him and Grace.

"Okay," Grace said when the server left, feeling somewhat nervous herself about the impending interview. She had never had to hire anyone for anything before in her life, so it was going to be something of a leap into the unknown. "Tessa, your dad told us you've been diving since you were ten years old. It's clearly a passion of yours."

"That's an understatement," Tessa said with a pleasant smile on her face. "If I could, I'd live my whole life underwater. There's nothing else like a dive, in my opinion. It's so tranquil, so relaxing. It's the closest you can get to experiencing heaven on Earth."

"I know exactly what you mean," Grace said, admiring Tessa's description.

"I didn't know diving was a thing for people so young. I have a ten year old daughter myself," Roman said.

"Yeah, kids that age can learn to dive. I've taught a few myself. Ten was the starting age we offered courses for at my old company. Naturally, they were courses catered to children, different to those we offered to adults."

"Your dad mentioned your previous employer," Grace said. "Unfortunately he passed away?"

"Yes," Tessa said sadly. "Jerry was a nice guy and a good boss. One day he was fine, the next he had a heart attack and he was gone, just like that. He left the company to his wife, but she didn't want to keep it going. She sold the boat, and the dive shop is up for sale too. I would have loved to carry on working there, but it wasn't an option."

Grace had glanced at Roman at the mention of a dive shop of for sale. Their eyes had met, with them both thinking the same thing. "We're looking to open a dive shop as part of this venture," Roman revealed. "You see, this is a new company we're starting up from scratch. All we have so far is a dive boat and a dream."

"What better way to start?" Tessa said with a smile.

"Well, exactly. What was the dive shop like? I mean, in terms of location, customer base, etcetera?"

"It was a very good location, and it was one of the go-to places in Miami for scuba divers of all levels of experience. It was the second location we had. We moved there a few years ago, and it was great for business. If I was to make a recommendation, I'd advise seeing if it's still for sale. Opening your shop in a location that people are already familiar with going to for the same kind of products and services seems like it would be a good idea to me."

Grace nodded slowly. "Yes, good point. That does make sense to me. Rome?"

"Yes, I agree," Roman said. "We'll have to get the address from you before we leave. The place would be worth at least checking out, if it's still on the market."

"No problem," Tessa said. "I realise that having my dad approach you and pitch me for a job isn't exactly the conventional way things are done. To make matters worse, I can't get my previous employer to give me a reference because he is no longer with us. But what I can do is show you some reviews, if I may?" she asked, picking up the iPad.

"Absolutely. I'd like to have a read," Grace said.

"Great," Tessa said happily. She kept talking as she started working away on the iPad to bring up whatever site she needed. "I was looking earlier, before I came out to meet you. A few of these reviews mention me by name. I can assure you that all of them refer to charters or courses that I ran."

Having found the page she wanted, Tessa turned the iPad around and offered it to Grace, who took it and held it so that Roman could read the reviews along with her. At the top of the page, the company Tessa had worked for had a star rating of four and three quarters. Grace figured it couldn't really get better than that. In any business, not every client was going to leave a positive review. The world simply didn't work like that.

Grace scrolled past a review that related to the dive shop side of the business. It was the dive charters and certification courses that she wanted to read about. The second review in the list was one such example. It praised the friendly, knowledgeable host and offered thanks for a wonderful day. There was a score of five stars.

"Keep scrolling down," Roman said.

They read a couple more short, positive reviews, one of them mentioning Tessa by name and thanking her for a fantastic experience.

Grace continued scrolling down, looking for the next appearance of Tessa's name. She found one from a woman who had written about having a problem with having her air supply during a dive. She complimented Tessa in glowing terms, recounting how she had kept the client calm, helping her to feel safe at all times while they shared Tessa's air and returned to the surface.

"These reviews do look good," Grace said, looking up at Tessa, who had sat there silently sipping her Coke while her potential employers read from the iPad. "We'll look the company up and read more later, but you clearly know what you're doing." She passed the iPad back across the table.

By way of reply, Tessa listed the qualifications and certifications that she had. "They only thing I don't have experience with, as I know my dad already said, is the admin side of things. I did ask Jerry, my old boss, to teach me. He said he would, but never got around to it. I can promise you that I'm a willing and dedicated learner. I've been desperate to get a job like the one I lost, but no one is hiring. The opportunity to show you what I can do would mean the world to me."

"And what would you expect from us?" Roman asked, keeping a good poker face despite her heartfelt words. "As we said earlier, this is a new business. Actually, it's Grace's dream business. We are committed to it financially and emotionally, but we know that we'll also be learning as we go along. A further complication is that we have to travel a lot for the company we work for, so we'll be leaving you in charge most of the time. Can you handle that responsibility?"

"Absolutely," Tessa said firmly. "I ran the charters and courses for Jerry, apart from taking the money for them. As for what I'd require from you, I know you have a boat. I'd want to look around it and see if it needs any work."

"I'm sure it won't, but you would be welcome to check it out," Grace said.

"Okay. Obviously I would need an assistant," Tessa said next. "As you know, for safety reasons someone must supervise the dive from a safety standpoint on the boat while I'm down there with clients, and they would do the driving while I was hosting, giving the safety talks, helping people gear up, and so on."

Of course, Grace thought, annoyed with herself for not thinking about the necessity of an assistant before. It was elementary, yet it had somehow not occurred to her. "Right," she said smoothly. "What about your assistant from your previous job? It sounds like you were a good team."

"His name is Sami Callihan. I think he has taken a job as a bartender, but I'm sure he would be happy to join me if I got a job with you. I could certainly put him in touch with you."

Roman nodded. "Anything else you would need?"

"I mean, dive gear, of course. I have my own, but we'd have to have plenty of sets on the boat. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that though."

"Yeah, that's something we'll be sorting out," Grace said. "I'm hoping to be able to do a deal with at least one manufacturer to hopefully get top quality gear at a cut price, both for the boat and the dive shop."

"Oh?" Tessa enquired with interest.

"Roman and I talked about it on the way down here today. We're both wrestlers. We work for WWE, which gives us quite a reach on social media. I'm going to pitch the idea to manufacturers that we could model their products on our social media profiles, and probably get a lot of the other wrestlers to do so as well to help us out."

"Wrestlers, huh? Remind me never to get on your bad side," Tessa chuckled.

That little response impressed Grace a lot. Tessa had the confidence to crack a joke during the interview. That said a lot about her character, in a positive way.

The conversation was interrupted at that moment by the arrival of Roman and Grace's burgers. The food became the topic of conversation for a couple of minutes, until Tessa got things back on track.

"I think your idea to get good prices on gear by offering promotion is a good one. I'm sorry, but I've never watched wrestling. How much reach do you guys have?"

"On Instagram I have almost half a million followers," Grace said. "Roman has over two million. We have colleagues with even more than that. Some of the women who have been on the main roster long than I have are up there at five or six million."

"Wow. Yeah, that's going to carry some weight," Tessa said. They talked for a while about the idea of specialising the future dive shop in the sale of equipment from one or two of the best manufacturers on the market. If they could offer the best products at prices that undercut other local stores, they could be on to a big winner.

The last topic, as Grace and Roman finished their burgers, was money. Tessa told them how much she had been paid by her previous employer. "Honestly, I'm going to be looking for more than that. Jerry had been promising me a significant raise for a while before died."

"Okay, that gives us something to consider," Roman said, giving little away again. Wiping his hands on a napkin, he brought the meeting to a close. "Thanks for coming to see us. It has been an interesting and informative conversation. Why don't you give Grace your number, and we'll be in touch in the next few days with a decision."

"Sure," Tessa said. She read out her number to Grace, who typed it into her phone and saved it.

With that, Grace offered her hand across the table. "Nice to meet you, Tessa."

"You too, Grace. And you, Roman. Have a good day," Tessa said, smiling as she shook both of their hands. She got up and limped away from the table.

"Well," Grace said to Roman with a deep breath, leaning back in her chair.

"Yeah," he said thoughtfully. "We have a lot to consider."


	20. Chapter 20

Getting back on the road for WWE would have been something for Grace to relish in ordinary circumstances. Ordinary circumstances would have meant Roman going with her. Unfortunately, from her point of view, his return was being held back a few more weeks until the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, meaning that for the first time since their relationship had begun, they were going to be apart for a length of time.

"I'm going to miss you," Roman said. He had just unloaded her two travel cases from his Mercedes at the drop off point at Orlando's airport.

Grace put her hands on his cheeks and gave him a sloppy kiss on the lips. "Not as much as I'm going to miss you. I'll call you when I land."

"Please do. And when you take off, although you can't hold my hand, I want you to think about holding it."

"Trust me, I will," she mumbled, dreading the moment already.

"Most of all, enjoy your return. They're always fun."

"Let's see if we can manage turning face and getting crapped on for it," she said, smiling slightly at the prospect.

A blast from a car horn made Grace jump. Turning, she saw a car waiting to pull into the spot where Roman was parked. The drop off spaces were all occupied.

"I'd better go," Roman said. He gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you too." Grace hauled her two cases onto the sidewalk, sorting herself out in preparation for the check-in desk.

"Remember to call Tessa with our decision," Roman called, halfway into the driver's seat.

"I will," she called back, giving him a goodbye wave. There would be plenty of time to make the call, as her flight wouldn't be boarding for almost two hours. They had made allowance for traffic on the way to the airport, but it hadn't really been there.

Heading inside, Grace went to check-in. While she waited in line, she sent a text to Zelina to say that she would meet her and Seth at the gate for their flight.

When she was checked-in and had deposited her two cases, Grace proceeded through security, which thankfully wasn't busy. With that done, she checked a departure board, where two pieces of good news were waiting for her. Firstly, her flight was on time, and secondly, it was departing from one of the closest gates to the security area.

She made her way over to the gate, found somewhere to sit with a few empty seats around her, and took out her phone. It was time to call Tessa Blanchard.

Dialling the number, Grace thought through what she was going to say while listening to the ringing sound.

"Hi, it's Tessa. I'm probably underwater right now, so please leave a message."

The voice mail greeting made Grace smile in amusement. She opted to leave a message instead of hanging up. "Hi, Tessa, it's Grace Stone. Could you call me back when you get this? Thanks."

Grace ended the call, but didn't have chance to do anything else before a call came in from Tessa.

"Tessa, hi," she said cheerfully after answering the call.

"Hi, Grace. Sorry, voice mail got the call just as I picked my phone up. How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you. I'm calling about the job we discussed." As if that wasn't obvious, Grace thought. "Roman and I discussed it at length, and we'd like to make you an offer."

"Awesome! Thank you," Tessa said enthusiastically.

"You have a lot of qualities that we're looking for. However, you also lack some of the qualities we're looking for," Grace explained. "Which is why we're going to be looking to hire a manager for the business, who will be working out of the dive shop. What we're offering you is the same role you had with your previous employer. You'll be in charge of the dive boat, supervising an assistant, and running the courses and charters."

"Sounds great!" Tessa said. "Honestly, I couldn't see you giving control of the business to someone with no admin experience, much as I was up for the challenge."

"Yes, it would have been too risky with Roman and I not around often to be hands on with it. With that said, your reviews from your past employer are excellent. We both wanted to give you a shot, so we'd like to take you for an initial three month trial period from when the company is up and running, at the same wage you made before. If the three months go well, we'll review your pay then and give you a raise. How does that sound?"

"A three month trial is fair. I won't let you down. Thanks for the opportunity, Grace."

"You're welcome. As I'm sure you can understand, there's a lot of work still to be done before we launch Miami Diving Adventures. Roman is heading down later this week to look over the dive shop you recommended, as it's still on the market."

"That's good news. I could meet him there and walk around with him if you'd like?"

Grace was impressed by the offer and appreciative of it. "Would you? That would be good of you."

"Sure. Oh, I called Sami Callihan, too. He has taken a job as a bartender, but he said he would love to work with me again. I could send you his number if you'd like to talk to him about it?"

"Please do. I have calls in to a couple of scuba gear manufacturers regarding supplying us with their products, and I pitched the idea of marketing them on social media in exchange for discounted prices."

"How did that go?" Tessa asked with interest.

"They were both noncommittal, but both promised to look into the possibilities and come back to me. It's better than a no."

"It sure is. Here's hoping for good news."

"Yep," Grace said with a smile. "I'll get Roman to arrange meeting up with you for the shop viewing, and he can show you our boat while he's down there."

"I'll look forward to it," Tessa said sincerely. "Thanks again for the job opportunity. I can't wait to get started."

Grace's smile broadened. "Neither can I. I'm sure we'll talk again soon." She ended the call, pleased with how it had gone. The journey to launching Miami Diving Adventures was well and truly underway.

Putting her earbuds in, Grace killed time by listening to some of her favourite music. About twenty minutes after the phone call, she saw Seth and Zelina approaching her. She removed the earbuds and smiled to greet them. "Hi, guys."

"Grace! It's been so long. We missed you," Zelina said.

"Aww, I missed you too."

"The bus has seemed empty with two people less," Seth said.

"I can imagine. But I bet you've been able to get into the bathroom easier," Grace chuckled.

Seth laughed as Zelina sat down next to Grace. "I'll go and get some coffees. Do you want one, Grace?" he asked.

"Yeah, okay, thanks," she replied, by now not needing to tell him what she liked. Her order was always the same.

As Seth wandered off, Grace's attention turned to The Stone Roses' upcoming first appearance together in more than a month. It was going to be a big one. "Lucy's going to want to talk to us when we get there," she said.

"Why's that?" Zelina asked.

"We're going to be turning face, at least in theory."

Zelina's eyes narrowed. The look on her face was not a happy one to say the least. "We're what? Since when? And how do you know this when I don't?"

Shit, Grace thought, immediately realising that she had fucked up. She had talked to Thorne about plans for the team without saying a word to Zelina. How had she been that stupid? Damage limitation mode kicked in on instinct. "She called me the other day, saying she wanted to talk about my return. I happened to mention something about us not getting mega heat, although you've done great while I was away. I blurted out something about getting more heat by acting as a face, considering all the shit I've been getting online. Next thing I know, Lucy jumped on it and said she's going to give us a face turn, although the real object will be to get heat on us. You know, like Roman and Cena used to get. Babyfaces that are hated."

At least half of what she had said didn't seem to have registered with Zelina, whose expression had only gotten angrier. Her complexion seemed to have darkened, yet her eyes burned brightly. "Let me get this right," she said heatedly, her New York accent starting to come through stronger than usual. "You talked plans for our team with Thorne without talking to me first? You got us a face turn without knowing what I thought about it. And then, even worse, you didn't even bother to call me afterwards? Are you for real right now?"

"It wasn't like that," Grace protested.

Zelina took a second to make sure she kept her volume under control. Shouting and causing a scene in the airport would not be good. When she did speak, her anger was nonetheless cutting. "Sounds like it was exactly like that to me. What if I think turning face isn't right for us? Where was my say in this?"

"Z, I only said what I thought would be best for us as a team."

"Don't Z me!" Zelina snapped. "You went behind my back."

"What was I supposed to say?" Grace objected. "I had Thorne on the phone to me wanting to talk ideas."

"Hmm, what about, 'I might have an idea. How about Zelina and I speak to you Monday?' What about doing anything that didn't involve making career decisions for me that I had no say in, or hadn't even been consulted about?"

Grace knew she was in the wrong. She could also tell that Zelina wasn't going to calm down over this quickly. An apology was the only thing to offer. "I'm sorry, Zelina, I really am. I wasn't thinking."

Zelina grunted a mocking laugh. "Oh, you were thinking alright. You were thinking about yourself and what you wanted. I don't think it even occurred to you that you ought to speak to me first. That's not how teammates act. After everything I did to help you adjust to the main roster, putting you forward for a place on the bus, you go behind my back the first chance you get."

"Let me explain," Grace protested weakly as Zelina got up.

"No. I don't need to hear anything else from you."

Zelina stormed off, heading over to sit on the far side of their gate area. Grace noticed a couple of people paying attention to the argument while trying not to look like they were. Angry with herself, she resigned herself to leaving Zelina to cool off. Going over to her now and trying to continue the conversation would be a stupid idea. She didn't feel like she had acted selfishly, but she had admit that Zelina was right, calling her had never even occurred to her. That was wrong. As someone as experienced in wrestling as Grace was, she knew perfectly well that she had to do better than that for her teammate.

On his way back with the coffees, Seth noticed that Zelina had moved seats. He went over to her first, a puzzled look on her face. Grace was sitting too far away to hear their conversation, but she could see them in the corner of her eye. Zelina's body langue showed that she wasn't cooling off. If anything, it was the opposite.

After a minute or so, Seth came over with Grace's coffee. He too didn't look best pleased with her either.

"Seth, I know I screwed up," Grace said before he could get a word in. "I didn't say anything that I didn't think was best for Zelina as well as myself, but she's right, I should have spoken to her first."

"Yeah, you should," he said simply, handing her the coffee. He turned and walked back to Zelina without another word.

"Fuck," Grace said under her breath, feeling like she wanted to kick something. Had she ruined two friendships as well as the Stone Roses team in one fell swoop.


	21. Chapter 21

The three hour flight had been an even more miserable experience than usual for Grace, which was saying something as she hated flying at the best of times. On this occasion, what was going to happen after the flight had been as much of a concern as any potential disaster that might happen during it. Grace's seat had been further back than where Seth and Zelina had been sitting. When they had boarded, neither of them had made eye contact with her. It didn't bode well for the status of her friendships with them, making her wonder if she ought to start making alternative travel arrangements. She had no intention of traveling on the bus if she wasn't welcome.

It was something of a surprise for Grace when she walked off the plane and found Zelina waiting for her in the concourse. Seth had apparently gone on ahead to baggage claim. Zelina still didn't look pleased, but at least she didn't appear ready to murder someone now.

"Hi," Grace said sheepishly.

"Luckily for you, Seth talked me around to seeing this idea of turning us face without actually turning us face as a good thing. But that doesn't mean I'm not pissed at you for what you did."

Grace nodded. "I get that. You have every right to be mad at me. I wasn't thinking, I got caught up in the moment when I was on the phone to Lucy. I know it was wrong for me to pitch an idea that I hadn't spoken to you about. It won't happen again."

"It had better not," Zelina said seriously. "You're not a rookie in this business, Grace. You know how vital trust is between partners, outside the ring as much as in it. One mistake I can forgive, but I'm telling you now, don't put me in a positon where I don't trust you."

"I won't," Grace promised, thinking that she was probably getting off lightly. Zelina could well have stayed mad at her for a lot longer. "I need you to believe that although I went about this the wrong way, I only had what was best for us as a team in mind. I want us to be a big deal, and I wanted Lucy to get behind us."

Zelina's expression softened a little. "I do believe that. That's why we're having this conversation."

"So, we're good?" Grace asked hesitantly.

Zelina nodded. "We're good. You probably owe an apology to Seth, too. He had me chewing his ear off for at least an hour on that flight," she said, making a joke in an attempt to start moving on.

They started walking in the direction of the baggage claim area. Most of the other passengers from their flight were now ahead of them. "Rather him than me," Grace said, smiling in relief as much as humour now that she knew her screw up hadn't cost her as badly as it might have done.

"Now that we're on the same page, let's talk over some ideas for making ourselves faces that people actually hate. A lot of it is probably going to have to come from the booking, honestly. It's overpushing that really pisses people off these days."

"I agree. Let's hope that's what Lucy has in mind when she speaks to us later."

They floated some ideas to each other until they reached the baggage claim hall. The cases were not yet on the carousel assigned to their flight. Seth was standing off to one side of the crowd of passengers.

"Do I need a referee shirt?" he asked as they approached him.

"No, we're okay," Zelina said.

"Glad to hear it," he said. With that, to Grace's delight, the conversation between the trio pretty much returned to normal.

Once they were on the road in an Uber to the arena, where they would meet up with Bayley, Elena and the tour bus, Grace decided to bring up what she and Roman had been working on recently. "So, Miami Diving Adventures is officially founded as a company," she said to Zelina, who was sharing the back seat of the car with her, while Seth sat up front, talking to the driver about football.

"Oh, that's good news," Zelina said. "I saw the pictures you put up of the boat. Very swish. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person."

"As soon as we're up and running, I'll invite you and Seth down for a dive free of charge, if you're up for it?"

Zelina's face lit up. "Girl, I'd love that. Seth, how about it?"

"How about what, muñeca?" Seth asked, turning in his seat to look at her.

"Grace says when her diving business is up and running, we can have a dive free of charge."

Seth smiled. "I'd love to learn to dive."

"Well, a one off dive would be under close supervision of our instructor. If you wanted to get certified, I could do you a good deal on a course."

"I think one dive to start with, to see if we like it," Zelina said.

"Sounds good to me," Seth said, promptly returning to the football conversation.

Zelina rolled her eyes at him, almost making Grace laugh. "You said you have an instructor now?"

"Yes! I hired her today. Roman and I met her and interviewed her when we were down in Miami. She has a lot of experience, and good reviews from a past employer."

"That sounds great," Zelina said. "So, what else do you need before you open for business?"

"We're going to open a dive shop to sell gear, as well as obviously selling the charters and courses we'll offer. For that, we need a retail unit. Roman is viewing one that's up for sale later this week. Once we have a unit, we'll need to stock it, and we'll need at least two people to run it."

Zelina sucked air in between her teeth. "This isn't going to come cheap!"

"Nope," Grace conceded. "But I have money from the pay out after mom's death. She would have wanted me to put it to good use, investing in something I've always wanted to do."

"Your mom would be proud," Zelina said with feeling. It was something she could relate to because she dedicated her wrestling to her father, who had been killed in the 9/11 attacks.

"Thank you. I'm hoping mom and dad are watching and liking what I'm doing. Honestly, I'm having a great time working on it all, as is Roman."

"That's good to hear. I'm happy for you guys. So, you need to buy or rent a retail unit. You need to hire staff to run it for you. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, stocking the shop and the boat with dive gear. Actually, let me run an idea by you. I've approached a couple of manufacturers with an idea that would see them sell us their products at a cut price in return for me and other WWE superstars modelling for them on social media."

Zelina considered that for a moment, slowly nodding in approval. "Shrewd, Grace. Very shrewd. Companies always love promotion, and there are some people with massive followings in our locker room. You don't just have to promote the manufacturers though, you could promote your business. Look at what Sonya and Mandy have going on with their donut thing. You could get people down to Miami to dive with you and make a YouTube series out of it."

"That's an excellent idea!" Grace exclaimed. "I think you're onto something there. There could be a segment where I chat to the guest either before or after the dive. I'm going to mention it to Roman. On the marketing thing, do you think the manufacturers might go for it? I haven't had an answer from either of the ones I approached yet."

"I think they might take you up on it. Assuming they do, I for one would be happy to model for you. And I'd make sure he did, too." Zelina nodded in Seth's direction. "Hey, you now what you could do?"

"What?"

"Speak to Thorne about it."

Grace narrowed her eyes slightly. "You think she would model for me?'

Zelina laughed loudly. "Not the modelling, idiot, the business. I'm saying see if she will do anything to help you promote it. Who has more business interests and knowledge than anyone you know?"

"Lucy Thorne," Grace said. "And I just realised something neither Roman or I have thought of so far. We need a website! How haven't we thought about a website before now? We're going to have to get it designed and built."

Zelina chuckled at her sudden state of near panic. "Relax, you'll get it sorted. Add that to the list of things to speak to Lucy about. I'm sure she can put you in touch with a good web designer."

"This is going to be a big meeting," Grace said, puffing out her cheeks.

Even she had no idea how big it was going to be.


	22. Chapter 22

"Your meeting is in the production office."

Hearing that from the runner who had summoned her and Zelina to go and see Lucy Thorne had surprised Grace, not least because Thorne was known to get to arenas early and have production meetings finished by the time talent started to show up.

"Unusual," Zelina observed as they headed for the locker room door.

"That's what I was thinking. In before she's decided to scrap everything we talked about the other day," Grace quipped.

With a laugh, Zelina opened the door and led Grace out into the hallway. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm confident it's not that. This isn't Vince McMahon we're dealing with, back when plans changed every twenty minutes. Once Lucy says she's going with something, she almost always goes with it."

"Almost," Grace said, picking out that word and imagining herself being the unlucky one whose push fell on the wrong side of it.

"Well, we'll soon find out. Here's the production office," Zelina said. They were already approaching the relevant door.

Grace hadn't spoken to Lucy Thorne enough times yet not to feel somewhat nervous at the prospect. She had been a wrestler her entire working life. Indy promotions were so much different to WWE, where booking and character development decisions were handed down by a multi-millionaire corporate businesswoman. Although their interactions had always been pleasant, indeed nice for the most part, something about Lucy intimidated Grace.

Simultaneously knocking the door to the production office and pushing it open, Zelina walked in.

Following close behind, Grace saw the boss sitting at the head of the long meeting table. Hunter Helmsley, the manager of NXT and a senior member of the main roster booking committee, was sitting to her immediate right. One of the men from the writing team was sitting next to Hunter. Grace knew that this wasn't the full booking committee because Bobby Roode and Paul Heyman were also on it.

"Afternoon, ladies," Lucy said as they walked in, also greeting them with a smile. "Have a seat."

Grace stayed behind Zelina, letting her go ahead and sit closest to Lucy's end of the table. Greetings were exchanged all round as they sat down.

"Glad to be back?" Hunter asked Grace, for the sake of making conversation.

"Oh yeah," she said emphatically. "Time off always makes me miss wrestling. But I missed Z even more." Everyone at the table laughed at the deliberately corny comment.

"Do you want to go outside and come back in again? We can pretend that never happened," Lucy said, drawing more laughter.

"Yeah, I think maybe I should," Grace chuckled.

Smiling in amusement, Lucy got the meeting underway. "Alright, I'm going to start with an apology. Zelina, I called Grace the other day to arrange her return for tonight, and we ended up talking over ideas for The Stones Roses. That shouldn't have happened without you being involved in the conversation. That is one of the reasons I most often have people see me face to face in meetings like this to discuss things. That didn't happen on this occasion, and that's on me."

"It's fine," Zelina assured her. "Grace and I have already talked about the ideas that were discussed."

Grace opted to keep her mouth shut. Lucy had said she was starting with an apology but hadn't directly given one. What she had done was take the responsibility for what had happened away from Grace, and she appreciated that. It showed how good Lucy was at managing her people. That simple little exchange had diffused any tension there might have been between The Stone Roses.

"Good," Lucy said to Zelina. "So you know that we talked about turning The Stone Roses face, in the hope and expectation that you wouldn't actually get a babyface reaction because of the… what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Backlash," Hunter suggested.

Lucy pointed to him in acknowledgement. "Because of the backlash – that should be the name of a pay-per-view - that Grace is getting over her relationship with Roman and the supposed favouritism she is getting from me as a result of it."

Grace had to smile at the pay-per-view comment.

"I don't know if you've seen the tweet that was put out earlier?" Lucy asked, looking at Grace and Zelina.

"No," Grace said, glancing at her partner and getting a blank look in return.

The writer had a tablet in his hands, which he was using to make notes of the day's conversations. Lucy looked at him and said, "Show them, will you?"

"Sure."

Grace watched him tapping and scrolling to navigate to the tweet, whatever it was. She wondered what she was about to see.

"There you go," the writer said, sliding the tablet across the table to Grace.

"Let's have a look," Grace said as she moved the tablet over so that Zelina could see the screen too. They were looking at a tweet from the official WWE account, showing one of Monday Night Raw's match graphics. Grace's render was on one side, with Zelina behind her. On the other side was Sasha Banks, with Bayley behind her. The caption read: Grace Stone returns tonight on Monday Night Raw, and will go one on one with Raw Women's Champion Sasha Banks.

"Read the responses," Lucy said.

Zelina used a finger to scroll down.

"Woah," Grace said.

"They're going to have this bitch beat Sasha clean, aren't they? Fuck this," Zelina said, reading out the reply with the most likes.

"Here we go, the start of Grace Reigns burying everyone," Grace read out. She knew the mention of Roman's surname referred to the kind of push he had once had, as well as her relationship with him.

"Trying to decide what I want to do more: watch Stone beat Sasha, or kill myself," Zelina read out.

"Imagine if some talentless nobody got called up to the main roster, started fucking Roman Reigns, got a movie role despite not being able to act, and came back to bury the entire women's division," Grace read. She looked up at Lucy. "These tweets are savage. I didn't realise people were turning on me this much."

"They're not nice comments, but they are the kind of reactions we hoped to get. It turns out that we're getting them sooner than I expected. People will soon figure out during your match tonight that you're meant to be faces. You'll also come out in your brand new merch. Hunter," Lucy prompted.

Hunter leaned over in his chair to pick something up from the floor. It turned out to be a folded up black t-shirt. He unfurled it to show Grace and Zelina the design on the front. It was a picture of both of them from the neck up, Zelina with the two roses in her hair. The team's name was underneath in writing that was styled to look like it was carved from stone, and there was a red rose lying horizontally underneath the lettering.

"That's awesome," Zelina said appreciatively.

"I love it," Grace agreed.

"I'm glad," Lucy said. "Obviously I'm hoping we sell a lot of them, but there is also the objective to have people see this as a further indication that you're getting pushed. It's not exactly a secret that the people on top are the ones who get the most merch. These shirts are going up on WWE Shop tonight, and I have them working on a bunch of other stuff like caps, cups, headbands, things like that."

"I think we need to be careful not to be too obvious about this," Zelina said thoughtfully. "It wasn't that long ago there was that angle where the Lucy Thorne character was favouring Bobby Roode because people knew you guys were dating."

"There's a difference," Lucy said, raising a finger to stop her. "For that angle we had the commentary team talking about Bobby having the boss on his side. I was out there with him at ringside half the time. With what we're doing here, there will be no mention of me on commentary. No one in WWE will mention my name in connection with the two of you on-screen. We're going to leave them to jump to their own conclusions about the booking and why it's happening, which is what they're already doing."

Zelina nodded, understanding the point. "People are certainly angry already, more so than I would have thought."

Lucy nodded. "Yes, and tonight it'll get ratcheted up to the next level when Grace pins Sasha clean. Sasha is supposed to be a heel, but she's still one of the Four Horsewomen. The fans treat all four of them like they're somewhat sacred."

"True," Zelina said. "I think that will definitely trigger people."

"It will," Hunter said. "But we decided that to make this really work, we had to have a single event that makes the hatred explode. We need it to go nuclear, to the point where we know for sure it will not fizzle out. That's why Grace is going to win the women's Royal Rumble."

For a second, Grace was sure she must have heard incorrectly. But no, she hadn't. The news was stunning. Lucy really was going all in with this angle, and with her. Someone with so little main roster experience winning a Royal Rumble was unheard of. "Wow," she gasped. "I mean, thank you. That's a huge honour you're giving me."

"Hang on," Zelina said, speaking as if an unpleasant realisation had just occurred to her. "It's just dawned on me that this entire conversation has been about people hating Grace, and about Grace getting pushed. I thought The Stone Roses were a team. I thought this was all about getting heat on both of us. I thought we were both getting a push. I'm feeling like I'm being tossed aside here."

Grace felt for her friend and partner. The concerns were valid, and it made her feel bad. The last thing she wanted was for Zelina to be treated like an irrelevance. She decided she had to say something. "As much as I appreciate the faith you're showing in me, and the huge win you're giving me, I agree with Zelina. I don't want her taking a back seat to me, not at all. We are a team."

"You are a team," Lucy said in a placatory manner. "Zelina, I anticipated your concerns, I understand them, and I appreciate you raising them with me in such a direct manner. Allow me to assure you that you're not being tossed aside. The Stone Roses are going to continue as a team. You are going to continue wrestling, both in tag matches and in singles, just as you have been since the team was formed. This rumble victory for Grace is intended to ignite the hatred that we need. Something big is required, and with the rumble only a few weeks away, this is perfect."

"The Stone Roses are here to stay?" Zelina asked, insisting on having it confirmed to her in the most specific terms.

"The Stone Roses are here to stay," Lucy promised her. "I need you to get on-board with where we're going. I'm relying on you get this alleged face turn over. It will require your utmost commitment."

Grace recognised the warning contained within that final sentence. Lucy was sympathetic to Zelina, but she wasn't going to tolerate any attitude from her.

"It will have my utmost commitment," Zelina said. Her words sounded a little forced.

"I think this would be a good time to adjourn," Lucy said, tactfully giving Zelina a chance to leave the office and cool off. "Thank you, ladies. Perhaps we'll talk again before the show next week."

"Thank you," Zelina said, getting up and walking quickly towards the door.

Grace felt like she had been put in an awkward position. On one hand, she had been given something truly amazing in the form of a Royal Rumble win, but on the other hand it felt like her partner was getting fucked in the process, even with Lucy's assurances. As she got up, she gave Lucy and Hunter a smile that probably looked quite sheepish. "Thank you."

Lucy nodded an acknowledgement, and Grace felt three pairs of eyes watching her as she left the office. When she stepped outside, she found Zelina standing a short distance away with her head resting on her hands, leaning against the wall.

"Z, I'm not going to let them make this all about me. That's not what I want," Grace said, approaching her teammate.

"I know," Zelina said quietly. She turned to look at Grace, but then decided instead to walk away. "You and I are okay, I just need some time to myself," she said over her shoulder as she left.

Grace stood there in the hallway, unsure what to do next.


	23. Chapter 23

Grace had found her way to an empty office almost on autopilot, where she had sat down at a table and called Roman. While she waited for him to answer, she tried to come to terms with how she felt about what had happened in the meeting with Lucy Thorne.

The news that she was going to win the Royal Rumble match was as incredible as it was surprising. It had come totally out of left field. Thorne's commitment to the proposed babyface/heel angle could not be questioned. Indeed, she was turbocharging it. But in that fact also lay the problem.

The way the angle was being booked was more oriented around Grace than The Stone Roses as a team, which had Zelina feeling left out. Grace had to admit that she wouldn't have been happy if it was the other way around, so she could definitely understand where her partner was coming from.

"Hello?"

Roman's voice on the phone startled Grace, so lost had she been in her thoughts.

"Uh, hi, Rome," she stumbled.

"What's up?" he asked, some concern in his voice. In the background, Grace could hear some kind of children's cartoon show, reminding her that Roman had picked Layla up from school in order to see her for a few hours.

"I'm a bit all over the place," Grace said. "I just came out of a meeting with Lucy and Hunter. It didn't exactly go the way I thought it would."

"What happened?"

As you know, Lucy agreed to go with the idea of turning us face, with the intention that we would be booed. Zel was pissed off at me when I told her I had talked to Lucy about it without her, by the way."

"Damn, I should have thought of that at the time," Roman said, and Grace could hear a grimace in his words.

"Me too. I worked it out with Z though, we're good. We went into the meeting together and Lucy dropped a bomb. I'm going over in the rumble match."

"You are?" Roman exclaimed. "Grace, I'm so happy for you. That's amazing news. Wow, Lucy has gone all in with it. If anything was going to make sure the fans hated you, this is it."

"I agree. For the angle, it's great. And of course I can't wait to win the rumble, or to go on to a title match at Wrestlemania. But the problem we have is Z feels like she's being thrown under the bus. I get it. If I was her I would probably feel the same way. This thing was supposed to be about The Stone Roses as a team, not about me."

"Yeah, tough one," Roman said thoughtfully. "What did Z say in the meeting?"

"She voiced her concerns. We all know Lucy likes people to speak their minds. You could tell Z was pissed off, but she didn't step over any lines. Lucy gave her assurances that The Stone Roses won't be broken up, and that she's not going to be left behind. It placated her a bit."

"Where is she now?"

"She said she needed some time to herself. Again, understandable. She did make it clear she was okay with me, so she knows none of this came from me. I'm just worried, Rome," Grace said with a sigh. "I'm worried that, despite being okay now, I might lose her friendship over this thing in time, and that would put all of us in such an awful position."

"Babe, that's not going to happen," Roman said definitely. "I've known Zel a lot longer than you have. She's a Latina and a New Yorker. She can be fiery and temperamental, but you know what else she is? She's a loyal friend. You said yourself that you're feeling all over the place, she will be too. Give her some time to cool off, to have a chat with Seth, and she'll be alright."

"You're sure?" Grace asked, wanting to believe him.

"Trust me. Besides, I have no reason to doubt Lucy's word when she says she'll be keeping you guys as a team. One of the things people respect most about her is that she does exactly what she tells people she's going to do."

"That's true," Grace admitted. "Thanks for being there for me, honey. It all got a bit much for me."

"You had a lot coming at you in a short space of time. The news about the rumble would have been enough by itself. I'm honestly so happy for you. It's going to be amazing."

"Thanks. I wish you were here," Grace sighed, missing him greatly.

"I wish I was too. We could have gone out tonight to celebrate."

"If only," she said wistfully.

"It'll be the first thing on the agenda when you're back home," he promised.

"I can't wait," Grace smiled. "I was going to speak to Lucy about Miami Diving Adventures, but obviously that didn't happen."

"You were?"

"Yeah. I wanted to ask her for advice and maybe a bit of help with promotion. Also, I realised that we hadn't thought about a website. We need to get one designed and built as soon as we can."

"Shoot, you're right," Roman said.

"Z thought Lucy might be able to put us in touch with a good web designer. It's worth asking, for sure. Z also had the idea that we could do a YouTube show, a bit like that gaming thing Xavier Woods does. You know, have a guest come down to Miami, go on a dive together, and do a bit of a chat segment while we're on the boat. I think that would be a lot of fun."

"Excellent idea," Roman said appreciatively. "And you know who you should try and get as the first guest?"

"Who?"

"Considering the angle that's about to start, Lucy Thorne."

Grace laughed. "That's actually a good idea. I don't know if she would go for it, though?"

"There's only one way to find out."

"Yes, ask her," Grace said. She figured there was nothing to lose in doing so. The worst Lucy could say was that she wasn't interested.

"Daddy, can I go in my ring yet?" Grace heard Layla whine in the background of the phone call.

"I'll let you go, Rome," she said, smiling at the thought of Layla desperate to wrestle with her dad. "I'll go see if Lucy has a minute to talk to me now."

"Good luck. Call me when you're on the bus tonight."

"I will. Love you," Grace said.

"Love you too. Bye."

"Ewww!" Grave heard Layla saying as the call was ended. It made her laugh as she pocketed her phone, getting up to leave the room.

Heading back along the hallway, Grace looked through the small window of the door into the production office. A few of the writers were in there, but there was no sign of Lucy Thorne, who must have gone back to her own office.

Grace soon found where the boss was set up for the day. She gave the door a knock, hoping not to find Lucy busy with someone.

"Come in!" Lucy called.

Entering, Grace saw the enormous figure of Brawn Strowman standing there talking to Thorne, who was sitting perched on the edge of her desk.

"Yes, Grace?" Lucy said.

"Sorry to interrupt. I was wondering if I might have a quick word, maybe after the show or something?"

"I won't have time after the show, I have to fly out as soon as possible. I can spare a few minutes now if you're quick, Braun and I were just finishing up."

"Yes, thanks, Lucy," Strowman said, his voice much softer than how he spoke when on TV. He made for the door, exchanging smiles with Grace as he walked past her.

"What's on your mind?" Lucy asked when the door closed behind him. "If it's about Zelina, I meant what I said to her in there."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Grace assured her. "It was actually the scuba diving business that Roman and I are soon going to be launching that I wanted to talk about, if that's okay?"

"Sure. How can I help?"

"I was wondering if you might have any advice for us on marketing, and if there's any chance you might be able to help us out with it, maybe?" Grace felt a bit rude with the second part of her question, but she knew that if she didn't ask she wouldn't get.

"Don't take this as a blow off, Grace. I really don't have time to talk marketing with you before a show. What I'll do is get you a name to talk to at WWE HQ. As for helping you market the business?" She paused, and Grace knew a decision was being considered. "Alright, you know what? I admire people who start their own businesses. It's a tough and courageous thing to do. Therefore, I'll offer you a deal. I'll have someone from Thorne Enterprises head office in London contact you. We'll get you some ad space on all of the websites across our portfolio, free of charge."

"Wait, really?" Grace cried. She had no idea how many companies fell under the Thorne umbrella, but the offer was no doubt an amazing one. "I mean, thank you. That is so good of you."

"There is something I want in return," Lucy said with a little smile.

"Anything," Grace pledged.

"Free diving lessons for Bobby and myself. I mentioned diving to him after that time we talked about it at the office, and he was up for trying it out. I'm not confident, but I agreed to have lessons with him. Now you're launching a company offering exactly that, I guess it's meant to be. You will be offering lessons, I assume?"

Grace gave one of her best smiles. "We will, and we'd be honoured to host you at no charge. Now, you just said lessons. I need to let you know that a basic open water certification course can take two to four days to complete. It's ability based, so the time depends on how quickly you pick it up. There is also an online element of the course you would have to do."

Lucy looked surprised. "You have to go through all that before you can even try diving?"

"No," Grace said, enjoying talking about something she was so passionate about. "You and Bobby could try a dive in shallow water under supervision from our instructor."

"That might be the right first step for me," Lucy said, getting up off the desk. "Come with me, I need a coffee. Are you an instructor, Grace?"

"Not yet," Grace said as they walked towards the door. "I have applied for a course to qualify as an instructor. Apart from wrestling, it's my dream job."

Leaving the office, they started walking towards catering. "You know what you're talking about, I can tell that," Lucy said. "How close are you to getting the business operational?"

"We're some way off yet. Another thing I was going to ask you about – I know I'm asking a lot – was if you could put me in contact with a good web designer? We need a website for the business, of course."

"I have a top drawer website designer at my New York office. I'll have him contact you also. Anything else?" Lucy asked with a smile that contained humour.

"I think that will cover it, thanks," Grace said, laughing. She knew full well how much help she was being given, and she was eternally grateful for it.

They walked into catering, almost bumping into AJ Styles, who was going the other way. "Oh, Lucy, could I have a quick word?"

"Yes, AJ. We're done, Grace, right?"

"Yes, thanks again," Grace said in a heartfelt manner. Delighted with how the conversation had gone, she left the boss to go about her business. She quickly realised that she had forgotten to mention the proposed YouTube show, but that could come at a later date. What mattered was the huge amount of help that was incoming for Miami Diving Adventures. And even better, it was coming free of charge!


	24. Chapter 24

Boos filled the arena as Grace hit her signature pop-up powerbomb. The fans clearly feared that it was going to be enough for her to beat Sasha Banks, the Raw Women's Champion, clean, right in the middle of the ring. They were right.

Grace made a cover, happy to hear the boos raining down on her. After all, that was the intended reaction, despite the fact that she and Zelina, who was at ringside, had clearly been the babyfaces in the match. From the second The Stone Roses' music had played, Grace had been rejected by the crowd. The atmosphere in the arena was tangible. Everyone knew she was going to beat Sasha, and they were ready to take a shit on it when it happened.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

The booing got even louder as Grace got up to celebrate. Acting like a babyface while being booed and abused was harder thing to do than she had imagined. It was a contrary to everything she had learned and experienced throughout her career. Nonetheless, she smiled as the referee raised her hand in victory.

Sliding into the ring, Zelina came over to her and hugged her, another babyface thing to do, which most certainly would not have happened before Grace had taken time off for filming. Back then, they would have likely stood over Sasha, gloating in victory, or possibly even given her a further ass kicking. Now they were all about good sportsmanship, not that the reaction they were getting told that story.

"Seems to have gone well," Grace commented to Zelina.

"It does. They hate us already."

After posing for the hard camera, they left the ring. A camera walked backwards up the ramp in front of them, keeping them on-screen until Raw went to commercial.

"Grace, you suck!" a male fan yelled from one of the aisle seats.

She gave no indication of having heard him, but the taunt was music to her ears. No, I don't, she thought. In fact it's the opposite, because I have marks like you buying into what I'm doing already.

Making their way through the curtain, The Stone Roses were heralded by Lucy Thorne, who was sitting in her usual seat at the production desk.

"Yes, ladies! Great job! We've got them riled up already."

"Thanks," Grace smiled.

"Wait until the rumble. Tonight's reaction will seem like nothing in comparison," Zelina said.

Earlier, about an hour after the creative meeting with Lucy, Zelina had come to find Grace. She had apologised for how she had acted right after Grace had received the biggest news of her career, saying that talking with Seth had calmed her down.

Grace had responded by saying that all she had ever wanted, and still wanted, was for The Stone Roses to be one of the biggest acts in WWE. She had not asked for a singles push, and if it meant leaving Zelina behind, she didn't want one.

The exchange seemed to have pleased Zelina, who had been her usual self for the rest of the day. Grace hoped that the drama was behind them now, since she didn't doubt Thorne's word that the team would be kept together. Zelina was an underrated talent in the ring, and as a one time Women's Champion, she absolutely deserved to see more action.

As politeness always dictated, Sasha and Bayley were waiting for Grace and Zelina just outside Gorilla. Thanking an opponent for a match was the done thing in all wrestling promotions, including WWE.

"Good match. Thank you," Sasha said, exchanging a brief, perfunctory hug with Grace.

"Thanks, Sasha. I appreciate you putting me over clean." Sasha hadn't had much of say in it of course, but it was still a nice thing for Grace to say.

"Sure. I respect the hustle. Just keep in mind that some of the other girls probably won't."

Grace narrowed her eyes slightly. "You respect the hustle? What do you mean?"

"Nothing. I'm just saying you got yourself a big push this soon on the main roster. A lot of girls have to wait a lot longer. Good for you."

Although Sasha was known to sometimes be bitchy with her colleagues, she didn't seem to be doing that now, so far as Grace could tell. She genuinely seemed to 'respect the hustle', as she had put it.

"Thanks. But I didn't do much hustling, honestly. This is an idea Thorne proposed to me when she called me to discuss my comeback after I was done shooting the movie."

"However it happened, I'm glad. We need more people of colour at the top in this company," Sasha said. With that, she turned and walked off.

Bayley hung back and smiled at Grace. "I'm glad things went as planned."

"Thanks, Bay. I'm surprised by Sasha, in a good way."

"She's not as bad as people like to make out," Bayley said in defence of her friend. "Sure, she says what she thinks, but she's always been a good friend to me. I'm hoping Lucy goes with the two of you at Mania."

"You heard about the rumble already?"

"There were rumours going around. I asked Z if she knew anything, and she confirmed it."

"Don't worry, nothing goes outside of the group," Zelina said, referring to the friends on the tour bus.

"It's going to be a great moment. I'm very happy for you," Bayley said, offering one of her frequent hugs.

Grace embraced her. "Thank you. I can't wait."

"We should have a few drinks on the bus tonight to celebrate, my treat," Zelina offered, starting to walk in the direction of the locker room when Grace and Bayley ended their hug. "God knows I could use a beer or two."

"Sounds good to me," Grace said. "Guys, I have a question. Do you think any of the girls are going to have a problem with me because of the rumble win?"

Zelina grunted something that approximated a laugh. "If they do, fuck 'em. You're not going to tell me they would refuse the opportunity if it was put in front of them, so why the hell should you act any differently?"

Bayley nodded. "What Z said. We all grasp opportunities when they come our way. It's the nature of the business. Take it, run with it, make the most of it, and most importantly, enjoy it."

Walking in between her two friends, Grace put her arms around their shoulders. "Thanks, guys. I don't know what I'd do without you."

* * *

Later that night, with the tour bus cruising down the interstate on the way to the city where the next night's Raw live event was going to be taking place, the group of friends were enjoying a relaxing end to their day. In their usual seating positions, they were chatting away, all with bottles of beer in hand. Even Bayley was joining in, which was something of a rarity for her.

Grace's altercation with Zelina at the airport in Orlando felt like it had been a week ago, not earlier that day. So much had happened since then. It had been a day of highs and lows, which made the alcohol welcome. The only thing Grace would have added, had she been able to, was Roman's presence. The bus felt odd with his chair empty.

As seemed to happen a lot lately, Miami Diving Adventures had found its way into the conversation when Bayley had enquired about the progress being made towards the company's launch.

Grace had told the group about what she and Roman had accomplished so far, and recounted her earlier conversation with Lucy Thorne.

"That's a lot of help she's giving you. It's very good of her," Bayley said, smiling.

"It is," Grace agreed. "I'm most grateful to her. She is getting a free dive in return, and lessons if she wants them."

"But then you might get her as a guest for your YouTube show, if she goes for it when you ask her."

Grace took a hit from her bottle of beer. "This is true. There's quite a big of give and take. The main thing is it's a big help to us in starting the business. I'm hoping Roman likes the potential dive shop when he views it, and we can get it for a reasonable price."

"Then you have to stock it, and hire people to run it for you," Seth said.

"Yep. As soon as we have somewhere, we'll start advertising for people. We need one of those working in the shop to be the manager of the business, too. That means finding someone with ability and experience in that kind of role. Roman rightly pointed out that we're unlikely to find someone like that who also knows about diving, so Tessa might be doing some teaching."

"Who's Tessa?" Seth asked.

"Oh, sorry, Tessa is the diving instructor we've hired to run the boat for us. She's the only one we've got signed up as yet, but it's early days."

Zelina sat curled up on the couch next to Seth, nursing her beer. "Hopefully you'll hear back from the manufacturers you approached soon."

"What's that?" Seth asked, turning to look at her.

While Zelina explained Grace's proposal to receive cut prices on scuba gear for her shop in exchange for talking her colleagues into doing some free modelling work to help her out, Grace loaded up her emails. In all honesty, she had expected to hear back by now, even if the answers were going to be negative. It had been a few days since she had made the approaches to the two companies who were her top choices – those who, in her opinion, made the best gear on the market. Scrolling past the usual spam and garbage, her eyes lit up when she saw a response from her number one choice. She had an email back from the contact she had been given at Cressi, the manufacturer whose gear she actually used herself.

"Guys! I got a reply!" she cried.

"What does it say?" Bayley asked excitedly, leaning forward on her couch.

"I haven't opened it yet. Wish me luck."

"Luck," Seth said.

Grace opened the email. Her contact began by thanking her for her interest in their products. He went on to say that her offer had been considered, and that after some research into the social media profiles of her and her colleagues, including the discovery of some pictures of Grace wearing Cressi products, the decision had been made to accept her proposal. The email concluded by saying someone would contact her in the coming days to discuss specific details.

"They went for it! They said yes!" Grace beamed.

"Girl, that's great," Zelina smiled.

"It really is starting to come together," Grace said happily.

"I'll drink to that," Seth said. He leaned forward, prompting the others to do the same. They clinked their beer bottles together, then they all sat back and drank.

"Congratulations, Grace," Elena said from the driver's seat.

"Thanks, Daga," Grace replied warmly.

"I'm very pleased for you. You should let Roman know," Bayley said.

"You're right. I'll text him now," Grace said. Just as she was taking out her phone, she was shocked when she heard a loud exclamation from Elena in Italian and the bus simultaneously braked extremely heavily.

Luckily for Grace, she was able to grab onto the sides of her chair to stop herself falling forward. The bus's tyres screamed in protest as it tried to stop, and it lurched to one side as Elena swerved. Just like that, they were stopped, parked at a skewed angle across two lanes of the interstate.

"Fucking hell!" Seth cried. The sudden, sharp braking had slammed him against Zelina. "You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Zelina said. "Daga, what the fuck?"

"Uh, guys," Elena said slowly.

Bayley leaned forward, lowering her head to get a better view through the windshield as their seating area was higher up than the driver's seat. "Jesus Christ," she gasped.

From where she was sitting, Grace couldn't see what they were looking at. She had to get up and move forward to look. When she did so, she took in a deep breath in shock. Their entire side of the interstate was covered in wreckage. There were a couple of trucks involved, one of them quickly catching fire, and smashed up cars everywhere. It looked like a child had taken a box of toy cars and thrown it across a room. However such an awful accident had happened, they had very nearly been involved it in. Elena's quick reactions had saved them.

"Holy shit," Grace gasped. "Somebody call 9-1-1. We've got to go and see if we can help people."


	25. Chapter 25

"Daga, what are you waiting for? Open the door!" Grace cried, desperate to go and help people injured in the terrible road accident that their bus had narrowly avoided being caught up in.

"No! Wait and make sure the traffic around us is all stopped first!" Elena insisted.

"She's right," Seth said, putting a hand on Grace's shoulder from behind. "You can't just walk onto the interstate."

Hearing tyres squealing outside the bus, Grace realised they were right. A car stopped not far from hitting the bus. Cars had screeched to a halt in the other lanes, too. Looking out of the windows, she saw the traffic now starting to back up. The accident was over. "Okay, they're all stopped. Open the door!"

Elena pushed the relevant button, and the door hissed open.

Rushing down the steps, Grace was first off the bus, all of her friends close behind her. It was obvious from the scale of the destruction they had seen that there would be many injuries, with some deaths also likely.

Grace froze for a moment, trying to take in the horrendous scene in front of her. "Jesus Christ," she said under her breath. There was destruction everywhere. It was impossible to tell from the wreckage strewn all over their side of the interstate how exactly the huge pileup had started. What she could tell was that more cars than she could count were involved, along with several trucks, one of which was now engulfed in fire. If the driver was still inside, he was dead.

"Come on, let's find people who need help!" Seth cried. He and Zelina rushed past Grace, heading towards a white van that was lying on its side.

Bayley and Elena also ran by, rushing over to a car that had gone into the back of another car. A family were struggling to get out of the wreck.

Where am I going to go? Who am I going to help? Grace thought, looking around. Off to her right, her eyes settled on a horrifying sight. A metal shipping container had fallen off an overturned truck trailer and landed square on top of a car, squashing the passenger compartment flat. She began to say a prayer for whoever had been inside. There was no way anyone could have survived.

"Help! Help me!"

It was a man's voice. To Grace's immense shock, it was coming from the crushed car. Somehow, there was someone alive under the shipping container. "Holy shit," Grace said, running over there.

"Help!" the man yelled again as Grace approached what would have been the driver's side of the car. She could see no sign of the person, who had to be somewhere underneath the container.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" she cried, crouching down to try and see through the twisted and mangled bodywork.

"I can hear you!" the man called, sounding relieved, yet still frightened. "I'm trapped! I can't get out!"

"What's your name?" Grace said, realising that she wasn't going to have to yell for him to hear her.

"Trevor."

"Trevor, I'm Grace. How bad are you hurt?" She dreaded the answer.

"I don't think I'm hurt," he said, to her immense surprise. "I saw the container falling, and I threw myself into the footwell. God knows how I reacted so fast, but I did. I'm stuck in here. I can barely move."

"Okay," Grace said, looking at the container, fearful that it might shift and crush Trevor. It actually looked to her like it was settled in place. "I think the container isn't going to move, so you should be okay. Obviously I can't move it. The emergency services will be on the way. Were you alone in the car?"

"Yes. I was on my way home. Hey, I can see a bit of light," Trevor said. Through a small hole low down in the twisted bodywork, Grace saw a hand appear. It was white, and looked fairly young. She saw a watch on the wrist, and the sleeves of a black suit jacket and a light blue shirt. "Can you see my hand?"

"Yes!" Grace cried. Sitting down on the ground, she clasped the hand in her own. It grabbed onto her tightly. "I'm here, Trevor. I'm here, and we're going to get you out."

"I need to get out. I have a son," Trevor said desperately.

"You're going to get out," Grace promised him. "I'm going to sit here until we get you out. Are you sure you're not hurt?"

"My legs hurt, but it's because of how I'm crammed in here. I don't think I'm bleeding anywhere."

It's going to be a while before the emergency services find a way to move that container, she thought. It was important to keep Trevor talking, to keep his spirits up while they waited.

"How old are you, Trevor?" she asked.

"Thirty three. How about you?"

Grace forced herself to laugh. "It's rude to ask a lady her age."

"Sorry," he replied, managing a laugh of his own. That was a good sign for Grace. She was doing her best to ignore the shouts, screams and chaos around her in order to focus solely on Trevor.

"I'm thirty one," she replied. "Trevor, is there anyone waiting for you at home?"

"My son, Tyler. Actually, he's at my neighbour's place. She picked him up from school today because I was out of town. I'm on my way back from a job interview."

"How old is Tyler?" she asked.

"He's eleven. He's a really good kid. We're very close, since my wife took off and left us when he was three."

What an awful thing to do, Grace thought. "We're going to get you home to Tyler," Grace promised.

Trevor's hand squeezed hers tighter for a moment. "How bad is it out there, Grace? Are people dead?"

"I think some probably are," she admitted reluctantly, deciding it was best to be honest. "But you're not going to be one of them. We're going to find a way to lift this thing off the car, and we'll get you out."

"I don't hear any sirens," he said.

"No, neither do I," Grace realised. "But help will be coming. I'm going to sit here until it does, okay?"

"Thank you."

There was a moment of silence as Grace tried to think of what to talk to a man trapped in a car about. "What job did you interview for?" was the first thing that came to mind.

"Just an office job, nothing interesting. I think it went quite well."

"That's good," Grace said with a smile. "You're never going to forget the day you went for the interview, whether you get the job or not."

"That's for sure," Trevor said. "What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm a wrestler," Grace said, looking forward to seeing how that would go down.

"A wrestler? No shit?"

"No shit," she promised. "I just worked a show tonight." She was starting to wish she'd had the presence of mind to grab her coat before leaving the bus. Sitting on a road, at night, in January, was not exactly suitable for a t-shirt. She wasn't going to move now, though. She had made a promise to Trevor.

"Your hand doesn't feel like a wrestler's hand," Trevor said, making an attempt at humour.

Grace laughed. "What should a wrestler's hand feel like?"

"Rougher. Stronger."

"I'm plenty strong, trust me," she grinned.

"Yeah? Then how about moving this fucking box off my car."

"Maybe not that strong," she replied. "Trevor, you're doing great. I can hear sirens coming. Help is on the way."

"I hear them. Thank God you heard me shouting. I was terrified I might be stuck here and no one would find me."

"Well, I found you, and I'm going to make sure you're out of there as soon as possible."

The sirens were getting closer. Still holding Trevor's had, Grace lifted herself up a bit to look for the emergency vehicles. She could see a huge line of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks working their way towards the accident, their flashing lights blazing away.

"Okay, Trevor, I'm to let go of your hand for a minute to wave down some of these guys. I'm going to be right here."

"Okay," Trevor said, letting go of her hand.

The emergency vehicles were approaching. Grace stood up, feeling pins and needles in her legs. She began waving her hands above her head, hoping to be seen by the first police car on the scene. "Hey! Over here! There's a man trapped! Hey!" she yelled.

The first police car drove past her, however the one behind it peeled off in her direction, as did an ambulance. Two male police officers bailed out of the car and rushed towards her.

"Ma'am, are you hurt?" one of them called out.

"No. I wasn't involved in the accident. There's a man trapped under there," said, pointing at the remains of the car.

"There's someone alive in there?" the other officer asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Yes, sir. His name is Trevor. He's stuck in the driver's footwell, says he's unhurt but can barely move. We need to get this container moved, somehow."

One of the officers rushed back towards the police car, Grace hoped to arrange for some kind of crane or something to get to the scene as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the ambulance crew came over, and Grace repeated her story. For now, there was nothing they could do, so they moved on.

The remaining police officer crouched by the car and talked to Trevor, confirming everything that Grace had said.

"We're going to get something here to lift this container, then we'll probably have to get the fire department to cut you out," the officer said.

"I'll be here waiting. It's getting pretty cold in here," Trevor said.

"Do you have any coffee or anything in your car?" Grace asked the officer.

"Yeah, actually, I do. I have a Thermos in there. Let me get you a blanket or something too, you must be freezing."

"I didn't mean for me, I meant for Trevor. There's a hole down there he can put his hand through."

"Down here!" Trevor called. Having heard her, he had put his hand through the hole. "Coffee would be good. Cream, too, if you have it."

Grace smiled at his humour. It had to take so much courage to crack jokes in that kind of situation.

"Coming up," the officer said with a smile, walking back to the car. He soon returned with the Thermos, and a thick blanket for Grace to put around herself. She could easily have gone back to the bus for her coat, but she didn't want to leave.

The officer poured some of the coffee into the Thermos lid and handed it to Grace, who sat back down by the car where she had been before. "Trevor, there's coffee here."

His hand appeared again, and she carefully handed him the lid. "Got it?" she asked.

"Yeah." The hand the disappeared into the car. "Mmm, that's nice coffee," she heard a moment later.

"Hopefully that will warm you up a bit," she said.

"I hope so. Grace?"

"Yeah?"

"This is quite scary. I'm so cramped up, I can't feel my legs."

Grace's heart went out to him. "Give me your hand again," she said. It poked back through the hole, and she held it tightly.

It ended up taking more than an hour for a crane to arrive. Grace sat there talking to Trevor and holding his hand the whole time. By now, she was used to telling the story of Miami Diving Adventures. She went through it all again, simply to have something to keep Trevor talking. She also told him about Roman, and about Layla.

"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to move to a safe distance now. We're going to bring the crane in and get this container moved," a police officer said to her.

"You hear that, Trevor?" Grace said. "They're about to bring a crane in to start getting you out. I have to move out of the way, but I'll be here waiting for you, okay?"

"You're an angel, Grace. I wouldn't have made it through this without you."

"Oh, you would. You're a fighter," she said. Giving his hand one more squeeze, she let it go and stood up. When she turned around, she noticed Seth standing there watching on from a short distance away.

"I can't believe there's someone alive in there," Seth said when Grace walked over to him.

"Neither could I when I heard him shouting for help. I've been with him since we got off the bus. Is everyone else okay?" She meant the group from the bus.

"Yeah. I had Z go back on there with Daga and Bayley. We helped a few people. The experts have it covered now."

They stood and watched the crane set up. When it was ready, its arm was raised and chains were attached to the shipping container.

"Here we go. Let's hope it comes off smoothly," Grace said.

Sure enough, the crane lifted the container clear with a barely a metallic sound of protest from the ruined car.

"So far, so good," Seth commented.

The container was lowered into an empty space on the road for now. With that, a crew of firemen went into action with cutting tools, after informing Trevor as to what they were doing.

"That must be scary," Grace said, imagining herself trapped under the twisted metal with the cutting tools tearing away at it.

"I don't want to think about it," Seth agreed. "But they need to do it to get him out."

It took the firemen some time to cut away multiple pieces of the car's roof and frame. Grace got more anxious by the moment. All she wanted to hear was that Trevor was okay. By now, quite a crowd had gathered around, waiting on the same news.

"I see him! We're through!" one of the firemen called out. "He's alright!"

One more cut was made, and a large portion of the car was carried aside by a couple of strong firemen. Two others reached down into the car, and just like that, out came Trevor. In the firefighter's arms, Grace saw the man she had been helping for the first time. He had short brown hair and a well trimmed beard. His clothes were crumpled, and he couldn't stand thanks to his legs being numb after so long stuck in the footwell, but there was a relieved smile on his face.

Applause broke out, Grace more enthusiastic than most in delivering it. Seth patted her on the back. "Go and see him. We'll meet you back on the bus when you're ready."

"Where's Grace?" Trevor called out. Obviously he had no idea what she looked like, and he was faced with a crowd of people looking at him.

"Here!" she called, pushing past a firemen and jogging up to him. As soon as their eyes met, they both burst into tears of happiness.

"Thank you! Thank you so much for staying with me!" he cried as they shared an awkward hug, one of the firefighters still having to hold Trevor up.

"We need to get him into an ambulance," a paramedic said, just behind Grace.

"I'm okay," Trevor said.

"You still need to go to the hospital for evaluation."

Grace knew she couldn't stand there forever. "I'm so glad you're okay. How can I keep in touch with you? You need to let me know everything's fine when you get to the hospital."

Reaching into his left pants pocket, Trevor pulled out a phone. The display lit up immediately. "Look at that! Even my phone still works." He unlocked it and handed it to Grace. "You can put your number in if you like."

"I will," she said, already tapping away at the screen. "Make sure you call or text me."

"I promise," Trevor said. "Thank you again, Grace. You kept me going through that. I'll never forget it."

"I'm glad I could be there," she said, giving him another hug. The crowd had started drifting away now that the remarkable spectacle was over. Grace had a chance to say one more thing before letting the paramedics take him to an ambulance. "Trevor?"

"What?"

"You know I told you I'm a wrestler? Well, I'm supposed to be a bad guy, so if you could avoid telling anyone about my involvement in this, I'd appreciate it."

Trevor smiled, suddenly looking very tired. Grace wondered if the shock of what he had survived was setting in. "You got it," he said.

A paramedic got under Trevor's other arm and they started walking him towards and ambulance. "Some bad guy you are," he said over his shoulder, making Grace smile.

Realising that it was also her turn to leave, she took one look at the remains of the car. It still seemed impossible for someone to have been alive in there. "Unreal," she said to herself.


	26. Chapter 26

There hadn't been much sleep for Grace on Monday night. It had taken ages for the interstate to be reopened, allowing the bus to continue on its way. Not only that, she had been missing Roman greatly as it was their first night apart for a long time. Lastly, Trevor had also been on her mind. He had not called her to let her know he was okay, which he had promised to do. She had been left wondering if she had typed her number into his phone incorrectly in her rush to give it to him.

"The morning after the night before," Seth commented sleepily when he wandered into the galley, making straight for the coffee machine as if he was on autopilot. Grace and Elena were the only ones sitting in the living area, with Bayley in the bathroom and Zelina still in bed.

"Yes, I hardly slept. Haven't heard anything from Trevor," Grace said. "I hope he's doing okay."

"I'm sure he is. The hospital will have given him any care he needed."

"I keep seeing the accident happening in front of me," Elena said to no one in particular. She had been the only one to actually witness it. The others had only seen the appalling aftermath.

"What even happened? There was so much destruction," Seth said.

"I don't know," Elena said, nursing a cup of coffee in her hands. "One moment everything was fine, then suddenly there was chaos everywhere. I'm glad I reacted quickly enough to avoid the car I swerved around."

"You did great," Grace said with a reassuring smile.

"If I had hit a car at that speed, I would have killed someone. Already three people dead," Elena said, her choice of English words not quite perfect, as was sometimes still the case despite Bayley helping her to have a better grasp of the language.

Three people dead, twenty injured, Grace recalled from a news article she had read. It could have been worse. Trevor, for one, could easily have been killed. It was something of a miracle that he had survived a shipping container pretty much flattening his car.

Grace's phone started ringing. She took it out of her pocket and saw Roman's name on the display. They had talked the previous night after Grace had gotten back on the bus. Understandably, Roman had been concerned for her safety first and foremost. Once she had convinced him that she was fine, she had told him Trevor's story. It had left Roman breath taken to say the least.

"Someone must have been watching over that guy," Roman had said.

That summed it up perfectly for Grace. It truly had been a remarkable escape, and she had been there to witness it first-hand. She felt sure that she would never forget it as long as she lived.

"Hey," she said warmly after answering the phone.

"Morning, babe. You okay?" Roman asked.

"I'm alright. Didn't sleep well, but I'm okay. You?"

"I'm good. I didn't sleep well either, though. I was lying there wishing I was with you, even more so after what happened. Have you heard from Trevor?"

"No," Grace reported sadly. "I really thought he would call me, but he hasn't."

"Give him some time. He went through a hell of a lot last night, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't fully sink in until he got to the hospital. How about you? How are you dealing with it?"

Grace thought about that for a moment. "It has been on my mind a lot. I'm okay, though. I mean, I didn't see anything gruesome, I pretty much sat there holding a guy's hand for a couple of hours or however long it was. Now that I think about it, I have no idea how long I was there for. Anyway, can we talk about something else? What is your day looking like today?"

"Busier than I thought it was going to be. I already got a call from the real estate agent down in Miami, asking me if I wanted to move my viewing forward to today."

"Really?" Grace asked excitedly. "So, you're going down there today?"

"I am. I called Tessa just before I called you. I'm going to meet up with her before we go to the viewing. I'll take plenty of pictures and video to send you while we're there."

"That's a good idea," Grace said excitedly. "I hope it's as good as Tessa described it to us. Getting ourselves fixed up with a shop will be such a huge step forward."

"It will. But we need to keep in mind that we should only go for this one if we think it's right for us. Although, having said that, it is a big bonus to know that there was a successful dive shop operating in the same location previously."

Grace nodded. "That's what I keep thinking." While the call had been going on, Seth had walked over from the coffee machine. He surprised her by bringing her a fresh cup. "Oh, thank you," she smiled, taking the cup from him. "Rome, Seth has made me coffee," she said into the phone.

Roman laughed. "He might have made it, but whether or not it's drinkable…"

Grace laughed also, drawing Seth's interest. "What's he saying about me?" he demanded, jokingly.

"He's telling me not to trust drinking your coffee."

"Oh, that's nice, isn't it? I won't bother making you one again," he said, still joking.

On the other end of the phone call, Roman had apparently been able to hear the exchange, for her was chuckling away. It suddenly occurred to Grace that she hadn't yet told Roman about the email she had gotten back from her contact at Cressi about the reduced prices in exchange for modelling. "Hey, Rome, I know what I forgot to tell you. The guy from Cressi got back to me. They accepted the proposal we put forward. Someone is going to call me later in the week to discuss things in detail."

"That's great news!" Roman exclaimed. "Getting our stock at a cut price should allow us to undercut other suppliers in the area, which should get us a lot of custom once the word spreads. You haven't heard back from the other company you approached yet?"

"ScubaPro," she reminded him. "No, they haven't come back to me yet. If they don't, or if they say no, I'll approach someone else. As we already said, we want to specialise the shop in the sale of products from two of the best and most well known manufacturers. That way, customers will know that we only deal in quality stuff."

"Definitely the best way to go with it," Roman agreed.

They chatted away for a while longer, talking about what Grace's day was going to entail, and how she was looking forward to seeing how much the crowd were going to shit on her at that night's live event. It felt like a curious thing to say in any walk of life, but in wrestling, it made sense.

"Right, I'd better go and get ready to leave," Roman said with some reluctance.

"Okay," Grace said, wishing they could talk for longer. "Send me some pictures and videos. And Roman?"

"What?"

"Drive safely."

"I will," he promised. "And you stay safe too. Love you."

"I love you too," Grace said before ending the call. Ordinarily, Seth would have been quick to tease anyone who said that on the phone, but today, probably with the previous night in mind, he let it slide.

By now, Zelina and Bayley were in the living area, with Elena taking her turn in the bathroom. "Morning," Grace said to the new arrivals.

"Morning. How are you doing today?" Zelina asked.

"I'm okay. You?"

"Yeah, not bad."

"Quite a night, wasn't it?" Bayley said reflectively, sipping from her cup of coffee.

Grace didn't get a chance to answer because her phone started ringing again.

"Someone's popular today," Zelina said, a weak attempt at humour.

The number on the screen was not saved as a contact in Grace's phone, which immediately gave her a feeling that it was Trevor. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Grace?" Trevor's voice said.

"It is! Trevor, how are you?"

"I'm good, thanks to you," he said, his gratitude as apparent in his tone as in his words. "I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. They kept me in overnight at the hospital, my phone died, and I had no way to charge it until I got home."

"It's fine, I'm just glad to hear from you. You said they kept you overnight?"

"Yeah. Honestly, there was nothing wrong with me, but I don't think they could quite believe that considering the situation I was in. My legs are stiff this morning, that's the only problem I have."

"It's unreal," Grace said, shaking her head. "Someone was watching over you for sure."

"I've never been a religious person, but I think I might pay a visit to church this Sunday," Trevor said, completely serious. "Everything seemed to go into slow motion when that container started to fall towards me. How I got my seat belt of and got into that footwell in time, I will never know."

"You have the reactions of a cat, and about as many lives," Grace chuckled.

Trevor laughed. "I don't intend on using any more of them up. Grace, I want to thank you again for sitting with me all that time. I can't even tell you how much it helped to be able to hold your hand. I felt like so long as I could do that, there was a chance I would get out okay."

"You don't have to thank me," she said, feeling a little choked up by his words.

"I kept your secret, too," Trevor said.

"Sorry?" Grace asked in confusion.

"You told me not to let anyone know that the bad guy wrestler was the one who helped me."

"Oh, right!" Grace laughed, now recalling the exchange. "Thanks for keeping my image intact. The last thing I need is people cheering for me."

"The secret is safe with me. Grace, I'm just putting this out there, I'd like to buy you dinner to properly say thank you next time you're in Chicago, Roman too if he's with you."

"You don't have to keep thanking me, but that's very nice of you," Grace smiled. "We come through this area every couple of months or so, so I'll definitely take you up on that offer. It would be good to see you as more than a hand sticking out of the side of a car."

Trevor laughed. "That must have looked so weird from your side."

"It did. But hey, it helped the time go by."

"That it did. I'll let you go, Grace, but can we stay in touch? I'd like that."

"Sure we can," Grace said openly. "I want to know how the job interview went. All of that had better have been worth it."

"I'll let you know," he promised with a chuckle. "And let me know how your progress goes with the dive shop and all the rest of it. It sounded like you have a lot of work on your hands."

"We do, but it's a lot of fun. Roman is down in Miami viewing somewhere today. I can't wait to see how he gets on. I'll drop you a text when I have news."

"Awesome. I'll do the same about the interview."

"Alright. Take care, Trevor."

"You too. Thanks again, Grace," Trevor said.

"You're welcome. I'll chat to you soon." Grace ended the phone call, feeling delighted with the news that he was fine and back home safely. She hoped that she would be able to contact him again later in the day with some good news about the dive shop.


	27. Chapter 27

Grace, Zelina and Bayley were in the locker room at the arena where Tuesday night's live event was taking place by the time Roman called from Miami. It was a FaceTime call, Grace saw before answering it. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of that herself when they had talked earlier in the day. It was a much better idea than having him send her pictures and videos to look at.

"Roman's FaceTiming me. I'm going to go find somewhere quiet to take it," Grace said to Zelina as she got up from the bench in front of her locker.

"Okay, I hope you like the look of the place," Zelina said.

"Thanks, me too." Grace hurried over to the door, making it out into the hallway with her phone still ringing. She held her phone up so that Roman would be able to see her face, and answered the call. She saw a smile appear on his face as soon as he saw her on his screen. "Hi! I'm looking for somewhere quiet to sit," she said.

"Hey," Roman replied happily. He turned the phone slightly so that Tessa Blanchard appeared in the picture. Grace noticed that they "Tessa is here with me."

"Hi, Grace," their soon-to-be employee said, smiling and giving her a little wave.

"Hi, Tessa. Are you guys at the dive shop?" Grace asked as she pushed a door open, finding an empty dressing room. It would do for somewhere private to sit. She turned on the light and sat down on a chair in a corner of the room while Roman replied to her question.

"We are. We've just had a quick look around with the real estate agent. He suggested that we could give you a tour on FaceTime. I don't know why I didn't think of it myself to be honest."

"I thought the same when I saw the call coming in."

"The easiest way to do this is probably for me to film, while Tessa talks you through it."

"Let's do it," Grace said excitedly. She couldn't wait for her first look at what might end up being their dive shop.

Roman touched his phone screen, flipping the video feed to the rear camera. Tessa appeared on the screen, laughing nervously. "I've never done anything like this before. I feel properly put on the spot."

"You'll do fine," Roman chuckled. "Think of yourself as a tour guide."

"I'll do my best," Tessa giggled. She walked away from Roman a bit, and Grace noticed that the limp that she'd had when they had first met was now gone.

"Okay, Grace, we're outside the front of the store," Tessa said. "As you can see, there's quite a lot of footfall and potential passing trade."

Yes, that's an important factor, Grace thought. Scuba equipment or lessons was obviously not something that would benefit hugely from people who happened to walk by and decide to call into the shop, but it was still a benefit. Theirs was going to be more of a specialist business, meaning that people would look them up ahead of time and travel to the shop specifically.

Tessa walked over to stand in front of the shop, Roman moving to track her with the camera. Grace saw that the sign for the previous dive shop had been taken down, leaving an ugly empty space above the glass frontage. The entrance to the shop was in the centre, leaving space for a window display either side of it. Add a sign to the list of obvious things we hadn't thought about, she thought.

"Plenty of room for displays, as you can see," Tessa said. "Roman said you've done a deal for Cressi to supply us. I'd recommend putting on a big display of their stuff in the windows."

"Rome, tell her that we're getting another company in too. We could put a display for each company either side."

"Good idea," Roman said, before speaking to Tessa. "Grace is saying we'll be getting another supplier involved too, so we could give them a display each, one each side of the entrance. Or we could do some kind of sign display to advertise our courses and charters?" he added, providing his own idea.

"Yeah, that could work too," Grace said.

"Displays can be changed, of course," Tessa pointed out. "Jerry used to have them changed fairly regularly when this was his place."

"Another good point," Grace acknowledged.

"Let's go inside," Roman said.

Tessa pushed the door open and stood aside to hold it for Roman, who kept his phone held up the whole time for Grace's benefit. She saw that the shop was essentially empty. Only some shelving and a couple of display stands remained. Those items would need to be cleared out if they purchased the shop.

Tessa appeared in front of the camera again. "As you can see it's quite spacious in here. Obviously it looks even more so with no stock in it, but I can assure you there was always plenty of room in here." Her voice echoed in the near empty store.

Grace saw that there was a sales counter towards the back of the room. It looked out of place to her. "Rome, ask her where the staff areas are," Grace said.

"I can hear you now we're inside," Tessa said. She walked over to the left from Grace's point of view. "The staff room is back there," she said, motioning to a black door with a keypad lock on it.

"Would it not be better to have the sales counter on that side?" Grace suggested. "I don't like it where it is at the back. If we moved it, it would give us more open space to work with."

"Might not be a bad idea," Roman said thoughtfully. He walked towards the back left corner of the room, filming as he went. "There are a couple of fitting rooms back here," he said, stepping into a short corridor.

Tessa had walked ahead of him. She opened the curtains to the two fitting rooms for Grace to see.

"I'm liking what I'm seeing. It all needs a renovation, but we knew that anyway."

"Yes, we'll need a shop fitting company to take care of it for us," Roman said. "I'm thinking we would have to do everything from the ceiling and lighting down to and including the floor. This is a good space in a good location, but it's a bit dated."

"You'd be able to make it look awesome if you're willing to put that kind of money into it," Tessa said confidently.

Yes, Grace thought. Significant investment would be required both to purchase the shop and to renovate it.

"I was looking up other retail units in Miami when I stopped for a coffee break on the way down here," Roman said. "This place's asking price seemed quite low compared to other units of a similar size. I guess that's because they know work needs doing on it."

"Interesting," Grace said. "Rome, can you show me the staff areas, please?"

"Sure," Roman said. He followed Tessa over to the door with the keypad lock, and she pushed it open without entering a code. Grace realised that the door must have been left propped slightly open to stop the lock engaging.

"There are a couple of small restrooms here," Tessa said as they passed two doors with the appropriate male and female signs fixed to them.

"This is the staffroom," Tessa said next, pushing another door open. Grace saw a young man in a suit, clearly the real estate agent, sitting in there on a steel chair exactly like those used as weapons in WWE. It was the only piece of furniture left in the room, which had been stripped at some point. The real estate agent looked up and smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Not a bad space to put some basic furniture and stuff," Roman said.

"Okay," Grace said, not having much to comment on.

"The final room is the storeroom, stockroom, whatever you want to call it," Tessa said.

Roman followed her out of the staffroom and through the door at the end of the passageway.

"It's seriously dark in here without the lights on," Tessa said as she flicked the switch. Her voice was echoing again. The light tubes took a few moments to flicker into life.

"I haven't seen this yet myself," Roman said. The lights came fully on. "Woah! There's a lot of room back here."

"It's weird seeing it so empty," Tessa said. "But yeah, there's no shortage of storage space. And the steel door back there is perfect for unloading. Jerry used to have a little forklift in here."

"Add a forklift to the budget," Grace chuckled. She had seen the whole premises now. Although it needed work, in some ways that could be considered a positive. What they were looking at was a blank canvas, in a tried and tested location. It would require a lot of money to get it operational, but Grace recalled something her father had once said: "You have to spend money to make money."

And besides, this business wasn't just about making money, although that was of course essential. It was also her dream. She had wanted to be a diving instructor with her own boat and dive shop for pretty much as long as she had wanted to be a wrestler. Before long, she could be both.

Roman flipped the video feed back around, so that he appeared on Grace's screen. "So, what do you think, babe? Are we onto a winner? Or do we keep looking?"

Grace smiled at him. "I was just thinking that it's a blank canvas. I'm looking at that as a good thing. We can do whatever we want with it, even if it will cost money."

"That kind of spending is investment," Roman considered. "I see no reason why we can't make this the best dive shop in Miami. We already know we'll be getting our products at reduced prices, allowing us to undercut competitors. We also have Tessa on-board. We know she's a competent and talented diving instructor. I really, truly believe we can make a lot of money here."

With the way he spoke, Grace assumed Tessa must have gone away to give Roman some privacy. "So... we're going to make an offer on the shop?" she asked, just about containing her excitement.

"I like it. As we know, it's a proven location. I see nothing here to put us off. I'm in favour of putting an offer in."

"Me too!" Grace shrieked. She was able to get herself back under control, and they made a decision as to how much they were going to offer. Naturally, they would go in below the asking price. It would give them a starting point to negotiate from.

"I'll go and speak to the guy now," Roman said.

"Alright! Rome, I'm so excited!" Grace cried.

"Me too, babe! Call me after the show, okay?"

"Will do!" she promised. "Love you, honey."

"Love you too."

Grace ended the call, hardly able to contain herself in her urgency to rush back to the locker room and tell her friends all about what she had just seen and discussed.


	28. Chapter 28

Grace was all set for the biggest night of her career. In less than ninety seconds, it would be getting underway. She was standing in Gorilla, ready to enter the women's Royal Rumble match at number twenty eight. There was little doubt in her mind as to what kind of reaction she was going to get when her music hit. During the past week, through WWE 'sources' leaking information to supposed wrestling journalists, there was already a lot of speculation online about Grace Stone winning the rumble. The majority of people were up in arms about it. She had even seen one tweet with a lot of likes claiming that there was going to be a riot if she won. Well, get ready to riot, she thought, grinning to herself.

By making the women's rumble the main event of the night, Lucy Thorne had gone for maximum and lasting effect from this victory, which was intended to have the alleged babyface Grace irreversibly rejected and hated by the fans, exactly the way Roman had been years earlier. The fans would be leaving the arena pissed off, and that would stick with them until Raw the following night, when she would likely feel the full force of their anger. Personally, she was enjoying it. Working so many people was entertaining, and the insults she received didn't get to her. After all, they were directed at her character and the booking she was benefitting from, not at the real Grace.

The ten second countdown started out in the arena, with the fans joining in. Grace prepared herself for her entrance, as the agent for the match gave her a cue that she didn't need.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The buzzer sounded. The production crew left a half second pause before dropping The Stone Roses music. Everyone in the arena knew it was Grace, for Zelina had already entered at number five, lasting around ten minutes before being eliminated. Thunderous boos filled the arena as Grace rushed through the curtain, jogging towards the ring. It was the most negative reaction she had received to date.

Reaching the ring, Grace slid under the bottom rope. Her first actions in the match were designed to generate even more animosity. Befitting someone who WWE considered a big star, she started kicking the asses of everyone in the match, delivering move after move to all comers. Mandy Rose was sent over the top rope, into elimination. Dana Brooke followed soon afterwards. Next went Naomi, all at the hands of Grace. She was left standing in the middle of the ring, all of her remaining opponents down on the mat. As she celebrated her dominating entrance to the contest, vicious boos rained down, almost as if the fans were hoping the force of their anger would somehow eliminate her.

The match continued, with Grace receiving hatred the moment she got any offense in on anybody. Liv Morgan, who had recently returned as a heel character, was nonetheless getting babyface reactions on most shows. That was certainly the case when she entered at number thirty.

When Liv hit the ring, there were already only three other women left: Grace, Bayley and Becky Lynch. Even though Becky was popular with the audience, Grace could tell that Liv was this particular crowd's favourite for the win. So much the better, she thought, since it was going to come down to her and Liv as the final two.

Liv made a huge statement by eliminating Becky soon after her arrival in the ring. It drew some boos from the Becky marks in the crowd, but a lot of people cheered, willing Liv on. Of the available options left, since Bayley was a heel and Grace was despised, Liv was the only palatable one.

Staying down in the corner, Grace listened to the action taking place in the ring with her. Bayley and Liv were going at it. Boos, albeit nothing like as forceful as those aimed at Grace, came moments before a big crash on the mat. Grace knew that would be a Bayley-to-Belly being delivered. It was her cue to start stirring.

Rolling over and using the ropes to start pulling herself up, Grace saw Bayley bundling Liv over towards the ropes on the commentary table side of the ring. Struggling to lift her opponent, Bayley got Liv halfway over the top rope and began struggling to push her over.

It was at that moment that Grace stood up, eyes locked on the two women standing between her and victory. The booing started again, rising to an almost deafening volume. The fans feared that the end was nigh.

Grace ran at the struggling duo of Bayley and Liv. Grabbing Bayley's legs, she dumped the former hugger over the top rope and into elimination. Liv fell also, but landed on the ring apron and scooted back under the bottom rope, to a raucous cheer.

Liv scrambled back to her feet and began exchanging furious right hands with Grace, both women fighting as if their very lives depended on it. To the crowd's delight, Liv started to get the upper hand, rocking Grace backwards with repeated blows until she was staggered against the ropes.

Grabbing Grace by the wrist, Liv whipped her across the ring towards the ropes on the opposite side. Grace was able to reverse, sending Liv into the ropes instead, and when she came back, Grace lifted her into the air in the setup for the pop-up powerbomb.

To a tremendous cheer from the fans, Liv was able to counter in mid air, getting her legs around Grace's neck and hitting a hurricanrana.

Grace took the impact of the move and got back to her feet immediately. Liv was waiting for her. She grabbed Grace by the back of the neck and started running towards the ropes with her, with the fans roaring her on.

However, at the last moment, Grace was able to reverse the hold and hurl Liv emphatically over the top rope into elimination. The arena erupted with boos as Grace collapsed to the mat in celebration. It was the biggest moment of her career, and would likely remain one of the biggest no matter what else she achieved in WWE.

The bell sounded, barely audible over the booing. The ring announcement was also hard to hear. "The winner of the 2021 women's Royal Rumble, Grace Stone!"

The booing continued incessantly. Grace's job was to ignore it, celebrating in a manner befitting a babyface. She climbed to the middle turnbuckle in a corner of the ring and pointed to the Wrestlemania sign – a rather cringe-worthy tradition that even Lucy Thorne hadn't done away with. Pyro started going off on the stage, as well as around the sign itself.

A "Bullshit!" chant started gaining momentum. Naturally, Grace pretended not to hear it. Inside, she was delighted. The fans were being worked big time. Not only that, it had dawned on her that she was now on course for a big pay day at Wrestlemania. Competing for one of the company's premier titles at the biggest event of the year was guaranteed to bring a large financial reward.

For the night's final scene, Zelina came jogging down to the ring to celebrate with her teammate. She arrived just as Grace jumped down from the turnbuckle. The friends and partners smiled delightedly, walking into each other's arms.

"I'm so happy for you," Zelina said into Grace's ear. "You looked badass. Ignore the people, this is a great moment for you."

The kind words were heartfelt, and Grace felt touched by them. "Thanks, Z. I feel on top of the world. As for the reaction? I'm enjoying it!"

Zelina laughed as they parted. They turned to pose for the hard camera, and Zelina raised Grace's hand in victory.

Giving the audience at home one of her best smiles, Grace saw a lot of the crowd making for the exits, presumably in disgust. Nonetheless, a "Grace Stone sucks" chant had gotten going. It was quite loud, definitely enough to be heard on the TV coverage. It would provide quite a contrast to the job the commentary team would be doing in putting over her unprecedented, stunning victory.

The red light on the hard camera went off, telling Grace that the show had gone off air. The Stone Roses' music continued playing for the benefit of those in the arena, but the night's entertainment was over.

The Stone Roses left the ring together, walking happily up the ramp. With her night's performance over, Grace's attention turned to what was waiting for her backstage, or rather who was waiting. This, at long last, was Roman's first night back on the road since filming Poseidon's Secret. The lonely nights spent endlessly missing her man were over. He would be standing behind the curtain waiting for her.

Zelina hung back slightly when they reached the stage, allowing Grace to go through the curtain first. When she did so, she was greeted with applause from the production team, including Lucy Thorne. None of that mattered to Grace, who only had attention for Roman, who was standing front and centre in Gorilla, also applauding. He actually looked emotional, and that made Grace tear up. The enormity of her victory began to start sinking in. There had now been four women's Royal Rumble matches in history. Grace Stone was one of the four women to win one. It really was remarkable.

"Great job, babe," Roman said as she walked into his arms. He embraced her tightly. "You were amazing. I'm so pleased for you. I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you," Grace managed to reply even though she was choked up. She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment while she regained her composure.

Roman kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said, squeezing him tighter for a moment. She became aware of the fact that Lucy Thorne was waiting speak to her, so she stepped back from Roman and smiled at the boss.

Lucy wasn't one to offer hugs. Handshakes were more her thing, which was why she extended her hand. "Congratulations, Grace," she said as they shook. "Excellent job out there. It went over exactly as we planned. People are losing their minds online."

"That's good," Grace smiled. "We wanted people to reject me and hate me, and that's certainly what's happening."

Lucy nodded. "It is. Now we ride that wave into Wrestlemania and beyond. We're going to go with you and Sasha as the 'Mania match. For tomorrow night's show, we've got you giving a promo in the ring to announce your decision to choose Sasha as you're opponent. She will come out to confront you, and during the exchange she will end up challenging you to a match later in the night, Zelina."

"Sounds good," Zelina said with a smile.

Grace was pleased that her partner was getting opportunities to have singles matches, and that their team was being kept together. Thorne had kept her word on that, diffusing any potential tensions that might have continued between the two members of The Stone Roses.

"I want you both to do a quick interview with Charly, then you can go and hit the showers," Lucy said.

"No problem," Grace said. She walked with Zelina, following Roman's lead out of Gorilla. Charly Caruso was waiting nearby with a cameraman to do the aforementioned interview.

"I'll leave you to it," Roman said to Grace. "After we get out of here, we're going somewhere nice for dinner to celebrate."

"A perfect end to a great night," she replied happily.


	29. Chapter 29

Monday morning, Grace found herself still on cloud nine. In just a couple of months, she would be competing in one of the headline matches at Wrestlemania, taking on Sasha Banks for the Raw Women's Championship. More than eighty thousand people would be there live. Matches like that did not come around often. For most wrestlers, they never came at all.

In a way, Grace was thankful that Lucy Thorne had reversed one of the first decisions she had taken as Chairwoman, to unify the women's championships. The unwanted effect had been less opportunities for the women, which was counterproductive. They were now back to two women's titles on the main roster. Without that decision, none of Grace's current angle might have happened.

"I don't know if I've ever seen you smile as much as you are this morning," Roman said. They were in an elevator, riding down to the hotel's first floor to have breakfast in the restaurant.

Finding his comment amusing, Grace put a sullen look on her face. "Sorry, I'll stop it right away."

Roman laughed and leaned in for a kiss on the lips. "You know that's not what I meant. You have the most gorgeous smile ever."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr Reigns."

"I know. I remember last night," he said with a coy smile.

"Mmm. I remember it too," she purred, stroking his beard with her hand as she kissed him again.

The elevator slowed to a stop on the first floor, bringing their little moment to an end.

"We'll pick that up later," Grace said as they left the elevator. Sadly for both of them, it was unlikely to be true because they would be back on the tour bus that night.

"If not later, then as soon as we can," he said. "We've got a lot of catching up to do after all that time apart."

"I was home last week," Grace pointed out, grinning at him.

"Exactly. A man has needs."

At that moment, they stepped into the restaurant, finding it smaller than expected, and packed with guests. There was barely a seat available. "Christ, Rome, look at this. Why is the restaurant so small?" Grace groaned, her light-hearted mood fading fast.

"I knew you took to much time in the shower," he quipped.

"I did not," Grace said, managing a giggle. "Come on, let's try and find somewhere to sit."

They started winding their way through the busy restaurant in the vain hope of finding a table where they could eat in privacy. A few greetings were exchanged with other wrestlers.

"Guys! Hey!"

Grace saw Alexa Bliss waving her over to a table she was sharing with Nikki Cross. The other two seats were empty. That was about as good as it was going to get.

"That's us, babe," Roman said, touching her shoulder to user her over to the table.

Heading over there, Grace was greeted by booing from Alexa and Nikki.

"That's what we're supposed to do now, right?" Alexa asked when Grace reached the table. All three women laughed.

Grace said, "Yeah, boo Grace Stone, that's the 'cool' thing to do now."

"Join us," Nikki said, motioning to the empty chairs.

"Thanks," Roman said, taking a seat next to Alexa as Grace sat beside Nikki. "What's the deal with this place? A hotel this big with a restaurant this small."

"Didn't you read the note in your room, or in the elevators?" Alexa asked, amused that the answer was apparently no. "Temporary restaurant on the first floor while the actual restaurant on the ground floor is being refurbished."

"Oh. I read something about restaurant on the first floor. Didn't pay much attention," Grace said with a shrug.

"I'll go up and get us some coffee to start with," Roman said, noticing that it was self-service.

"Thank you," Grace said, not needing to tell him what she wanted.

"Girl, we haven't had a chance to congratulate you since last night," Alexa said cheerfully. "We were leaving by the time you made it back to the locker room. We loved the ending of the rumble, though. You've really got people pissed off with you. They're like putty in your hands. Personally, I think it's great."

"Thanks," Grace said, smiling broadly. "I'm doing my bit. Honestly, though, it's mainly the booking that is pissing them off. That was the idea Thorne pitched to me for my return. Safe to say it's going as she envisioned it."

"Safe to say," Nikki agreed. "Even so, there's something about what you're doing that is pulling it off extremely well. I can't really describe it. Like, I'm picturing the way you threw Liv out at the end last night. It came across with a slight hint of arrogance about it. Not enough to make you look like a heel, but enough to be noticeable and piss people off."

Grace smiled at the compliment that was contained with the comments. She hadn't been consciously doing what Nikki had described, but if that was how it was being perceived, so much the better. Hers hadn't been the only female success at the Royal Rumble event. Alexa and Nikki had gained a win of their own, continuing their run as the Women's Tag Team Champions. "You guys were great, too. It sucks that you were put on the pre-show when there were weaker matches on the main card."

"We thought the same," Alexa said, looking unimpressed with that particular decision of Lucy Thorne. "It could be worse, though. At least we didn't have to drop the belts. We're both having so much fun on this run, and Thorne told us after the match that we're taking them into 'Mania."

"So we're guaranteed to have a Wrestlemania match," Nikki said excitedly.

"That's awesome guys. I'm really happy for you," Grace said as Roman returned with two cups of coffee. Their routine was to have one drink before getting into any food. "Thanks," she said, taking her cup from him.

"What's awesome?" Roman asked as he sat back down.

"Lexi and Nikki have been told they'll be tag champions heading into Wrestlemania," Grace reported.

"Oh, that's good news, guys," Roman smiled.

"Thanks," Nikki said through a mouthful of her breakfast.

"So, guys, how's the work on the diving business going?" Alexa asked. "I haven't heard you talk about it for a couple of weeks, Grace."

"Have you got glue in your ears? She's always talking about it," Nikki teased, drawing laughter from around the table.

"I am not!" Grace pretended to object. "I don't think I've ever even mentioned it in the locker room."

There was more laughter, then Alexa said, "The last thing I heard was that you had put an offer in on a retail unit."

"Oh, we've gotten further than that!" Grace exclaimed. "After a bit of negotiation, our offer was accepted. Since we're not in need of a mortgage, the purchase shouldn't take long, especially since I have a friend of mine who is an attorney helping us out."

"That's fantastic," Nikki said. "How long do you think it will be before you open for business?"

Grace sipped her hot coffee. "Not sure yet. We have quotes in from a couple of shop fitting companies. Both of them have our design brief for how we want the place to look. As soon as the purchase is finalised, we can have whichever company we decide to go with in there working on it."

"We also have our branding and website pretty much finalised," Roman added, not mentioning that Lucy Thorne had fixed them up with someone to do it at no charge.

"Oh! Can we see?" Alexa asked excitedly.

"I have pictures on my tablet, but it's upstairs in my case," Grace said regretfully.

"I've got the email with the link," Roman said, taking out his phone. He quickly found the email in question and clicked the link to the test version of the website that their designer had built. A lot of the spaces for pictures were currently blank, but the structure of the site was in place, complete with the text Grace had requested for the various pages. Writing all of that up had taken her a couple of nights on the bus.

"I like that logo," Nikki said, craning her neck to see the phone screen as Roman held it between her and Alexa.

"Me too," Grace said, picturing the fancy red lettering of the name Miami Diving Adventures, with a picture of a scuba diver underneath it. The diver was wearing black scuba gear, including an unrealistically long pair of fins that formed a swish underscore to the company name. "Once we open, the staff will have polo shirts with the logo on, probably with the company name on the back or something."

"You've put so much thought into this," Alexa said, impressed.

For Grace, that comment was not one to respond to modestly. "We have. I mean, this has been my dream business for years. I already had so many ideas for it. Since we got serious about it, I've spent so much time with it on my mind I can't even tell you. I think of nothing else while I'm working out."

"The dedication is admirable," Nikki said, sounding completely serious and not at all patronising.

"Isn't it?" Roman said. "Grace said 'we', but most of the work and ideas are hers. She's been unreal."

"Thank you," Grace said softly, looking at him and smiling.

"You guys are goals," Alexa said, receiving a smile of agreement from Nikki, who was looking through the pages on the website.

"You've got a boat, you've got a diving instructor, you'll soon have the shop. What else do you need before the grand opening?" Nikki asked.

"Staff to run the shop," Grace said. "We've hired an assistant to work on the boat with Tessa, who is our instructor. His name is Sami. He used to work with her for the company she used to work for. We want to get a manager in to run the shop and the business as a whole in our absence. And we'll also need two other shop assistants so that there is cover for holidays, illnesses, and to give people rotating days off."

"How is that search going?" Alexa asked.

Grace took another hit from her coffee. "We've not made a final decision yet, but there is someone I like for the manager role. Her name is Deonna Purrazzo. She has experience running a store, and has qualifications in accounting. She doesn't know diving, but that can be covered with training. The only problem is she's asking for a lot of money. What we have to consider is how valuable that kind of experience is, and is she worth the money she wants."

Finished with her breakfast, Alexa pushed her empty plate away. "Wow, that was nice. You guys should get yourselves something."

"I'm going to go up shortly," Grace said.

"Experience is the most valuable thing in my opinion," Nikki said, considering Grace's previous comments. "If it was me, I'd pay the money and get this… Deonna, you said her name is?"

"That's right," Grace said. "We're going to do some more thinking on it. There's no rush, since it'll be a while before the shop is fitted out. Once that's done, we've got to stock it." And that's where you guys come in, Grace thought. "Speaking of, I wonder if I could ask a favour?"

"If you want me to come and unload trucks, I'm going to have to say no," Alexa laughed.

"No manual labour needed," Grace promised with an amused smile. "We've done a deal with two different manufacturers of scuba gear. We'll be getting our stock at a reduced price, in exchange for Roman, myself, and our colleagues modelling stuff on social media. Would you guys be okay with helping us out with that? It would be greatly appreciated."

"Sure. I'll look like an idiot in scuba gear for you. Why not?" Alexa chuckled.

"If she's in, so am I," Nikki said, seeming amused by the idea.

"Thank you!" Grace cried. "Honestly? It likely wouldn't be a full set of gear I'd need you to anyway. It would be more like, 'Look at this new scuba mask,' or, 'Look at this new diver's watch.' You know, that kind of thing."

"Count us in. We'd be happy to help," Alexa said.

Nikki had also finished her breakfast now. She looked at Alexa, seeking confirmation that she was ready to leave. Alexa said, "Right, time for us to hit the gym. We'll catch you guys later."

"Have a good one," Roman said.

Grace said her goodbyes, then looked around the restaurant. The crowd was thinning out a bit now. Apparently she and Roman had arrived at the worst possible time. "Okay, honey, I'll go up and grab us some food," she said to him.

"Sounds good. I'll have bacon and eggs, please."

"Coming up," she said, getting up from the table.

Grace went over to fix two plates from the self-service counters. While she worked, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. A message had been received. Stopping for a moment, she took out her phone to read what it said.

_Trevor Campbell: Hi, Grace. I hope you're well? How is the dive shop purchase coming along? Still no news on the job front I'm afraid. Three interviews and not a single response, let alone an offer. Frustrating! Tyler and I are lucky to have my redundancy pay out to live on._

Grace sighed, feeling bad for him. She typed out a quick response.

_Sorry to hear that. It's a shame you're so far away from Miami or I'd offer you a sales assistant position at the shop when it opens. We're hoping it won't be long now._


	30. Chapter 30

A meeting was underway to discuss the match between Sasha Banks and Zelina Vega on the upcoming Monday Night Raw show. Along with TJ Wilson, the agent for the match, Grace and Bayley were also sitting in the small office that TJ had been allocated for the day.

Due to the fact that her only involvement in the match was to be at ringside cheering on her Stone Roses teammate, Grace didn't have much to contribute to the discussion. When her phone vibrated in her pocket, it was enough to distract her from the conversation. She took out the device in order to see who had messaged her.

_Trevor Campbell: I've not been able to stop thinking about something you said this morning. You said if I was closer to Miami, you would have a job for me. I'm wondering if you were serious about that, because it would be a tempting offer._

Grace's eyes widened a bit in surprise. She typed out a reply.

_Are you sure? Chicago to Miami is a big move. Do you have money to do it? What about Tyler? He would be moving away from his friends and his school._

Grace had no doubt that Trevor had already thought about those things, since he wasn't an idiot. Nonetheless, they were answers she needed to get. Soon, a reply arrived.

_Trevor Campbell: Tyler doesn't have many friends. His school sucks, and he gets bullied there. There are negative memories here for both of us. A fresh start somewhere else might be ideal for us. I have savings I could probably stretch far enough to fund the move. My lease on my place here is up at the end of February. I was going to renew it, but now I might not. The thing is, yours is a new company. I'm concerned about moving to work for you and the company maybe not working out._

Perfectly understandable, Grace thought. She had once heard someone say once that most companies that failed did so within their first year. Miami Diving Adventures had that hurdle to get over. On the other hand, they had a lot of advantages on their side. She considered what to type back before composing the message.

_I get that, Trevor. You would be taking a risk if you took a job with me. I know you've told me you have retail experience, so yes, I am serious about the offer. Consider that while it's true we are a new company, we have an experienced dive instructor on the team. We have a shop in a tried and tested location, we will be selling products at extremely competitive prices, and we're offering services that we know are popular in Miami. I'm very, very confident that the business will work. I'm betting one of my lifetime ambitions on it. A few years from now I'll be done with wrestling, and Miami Diving Adventures will become my dream job._

"Are we boring you, Grace?" TJ asked.

Looking up, Grace saw that everyone in the room had been watching her furiously tapping away at her phone's screen. "Excuse me," she said politely. "Business stuff. I wanted to make sure I replied quickly. I'm done now."

She put her phone back in her pocket and resumed listening to the conversation. The phone vibrated in her pocket again. Grace wanted to read the message, but she forced herself to focus on the meeting. WWE required her full attention when she was working.

Ten minutes later, the meeting was over, with everything in place for that night's match. Walking out into the hallway with the other women, Grace took her phone back out of her pocket and looked at the message that was waiting for her.

_Trevor Campbell: You have such passion for this, it's hard to imagine it failing. Gambling pretty much all of my savings on the move is still a tough thing to commit to when I have Tyler to care for. We'd also need to find a place to live, which means a large security deposit to pay, and presumably a few months of rent._

Deciding not to reply straight away, Grace found an idea forming in her head. "Guys, I'll catch up with you in a bit," she said to Sasha, Bayley and Zelina, before heading off towards the men's locker room. On the way, she sent a message to Roman, asking him to come out and see her.

Roman was already waiting in the hallway when Grace arrived, standing a short distance away from the men's locker room so that they had a bit of privacy. "Hey. You okay?" he asked as she approached him.

"I'm fine," she smiled. "Rome, there's something I want to talk to you about. Trevor texted me this morning. He said something about still having no luck finding work. I said it was a shame he doesn't live near Miami or I'd take him on as a sales assistant. I thought it was a nice thing to say, you know?"

"Yeah," Roman said slowly, not understanding where this was going.

"Well, he texted me again a few minutes ago." She recounted the exchange to him, up to the point where Trevor had made it clear that money was the only thing stopping him taking the job.

"I get what he's saying," Roman said. "It's a big jump to make, especially with a kid. You told me Tyler is a year older than Layla, right?"

"That's right. Trevor's a single dad, doing his best for his son. Again, he said Tyler's school sucks, and he gets bullied there. He said they both have bad memories in Chicago. I want to help them, Rome."

"I'm okay with that," he said openly. "But how? Call me cruel, but I don't just want to throw a bunch of money at the guy."

"I'm not talking about a handout," Grace said. "I doubt Trevor would accept that. He seems like a proud man to me. No, what I'm thinking is we could offer him a loan to help him get them a place and get them set up in Miami. We could agree an amount for monthly repayments, which we would take out of his pay check."

Roman's expression turned thoughtful, then approving. "You're wasted on wrestling, babe, you know that?"

Chuckling, Grace gave him a kiss. "You say all the right things. But seriously, you think it's a good idea?"

"I do. More importantly, I think it's a workable idea. Pitch it to Trevor and see what he says. If he's serious about a fresh start for him and his boy, it gives him the chance. And we'd know that we did a good thing by helping them."

"Exactly," Grace nodded. "I mean, I've given money to charity before. This is even better than that because it's helping someone I actually know."

"This is one of the reasons I love you," Roman said. "You're such a kind soul, babe."

"Aww. You are too, honey. I've never been with guy anything like as kind and compassionate as you. I'm blessed, Rome."

Roman gently pulled her to him and they started kissing. It only lasted a few moments before Randy Orton walked past and made a sound like he was throwing up.

"What is it we're supposed call you? The Legend Killer or The Mood Killer?" Roman quipped at him, looking over Grace's head at Orton.

Randy laughed, stopping outside the nearby locker room door. "Call me whatever you want, just go and get a room."

He was only joking, but Grace wasn't particularly amused. She found Orton to be quite arrogant and rude, which was why she hadn't bothered to turn and look at him. In any event, he went into the locker room without another word. "I guess I'll give Trevor a call and see how he likes the loan offer," she said, looking up at Roman.

"Alright, good luck. Hey, while you're here, I've had an idea of my own on my mind today," Roman said, enthused by whatever it was.

"Hit me with it," Grace said, smiling instinctively.

"We have days off this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm thinking we could pick Layla up on Saturday and take her down to Miami. We could tell her all about the business we're starting up, show her the boat, show her the shop, and if it's decent weather we could hit the beach afterwards. What do you say?"

"Sounds perfect to me. I bet Layla would love it too," Grace said, looking forward to it already.

"Then it's a plan. I'll let you call Trevor. See you later." He gave her a peck on the lips.

Delighted with how the chat had gone, Grace walked further along the hallway and sat down on an equipment case. Taking out her phone yet again, she called Trevor's number.

"Hello?" he answered after a few rings, sounding a little surprised by the call.

"Hi, Trevor. I thought I'd call you rather than keep texting. It'll probably be easier. I just spoke to Roman about what you said in your message. We'd like to make you an offer."

"An offer as well as the job offer?"

"That's right," Grace smiled. "We'd both like to be able to help you and Tyler with a fresh start. We understand your financial concerns about the move, so this is what we've come up with: I'll loan you some money to get you set up with a place to live, and we'll work out an amount to come out of your pay check each month for repayments."

"You'd do that for me?"

Grace didn't need to think about her answer. "I would. I remember you telling me you're not religious. Well, I am, and I believe something brought our paths together on that interstate that night. I believe you're a good man, doing your best for your son. I'm in a position to help, so I want to. Besides, I'm looking for good shop assistants."

"You're an amazing person, Grace. I need to do some serious thinking about this, and I would need to speak to Tyler. But whether I accept or not, I want you to know I'll always remember this kindness."

"That's sweet of you," Grace said. "Obviously you're under no obligation to accept. Do whatever is right for you and Tyler. Just know that the offer is there if you do want to accept it, and there's no great rush. It'll be weeks before we open."

"Thank you, Grace. I'll let you know when I have a decision, one way or the other. We're going to watch your show tonight, so I'll maybe talk to Tyler then. He hasn't watched much wrestling before. I'm going to tell him about the amazing woman who helped his old man come through his car accident in one piece. Amazing Grace," he added, humour evident in his voice.

"Enjoy the show," Grace said in preparation for bringing the call to an end. "Oh, and Trevor?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me Amazing Grace again, I ghost you."

They were both laughing as she ended the call.


	31. Chapter 31

By the standards of the first week in February, the weather was quite warm in Miami. It was ideal for the Saturday that Roman and Grace had planned. They had just arrived at the docks, much to the excitement of Layla, who was sitting in the back of the car, currently staring out of her window.

"Look at all the boats!" Layla cried as Roman backed the Mercedes into a parking space.

"Some of them are huge, aren't they?" Grace said. She pointed to a huge yacht down at the far end of the dock, where it became a marina for the rich and famous to use. The marina wasn't currently busy, with only the one huge yacht moored there. It struck Grace as the kind of thing Lucy Thorne might own.

"Is your boat like that one, dad?" Layla asked.

Roman laughed. "No, sweet pea. Ours is a dive boat. That's a yacht, which means it's much bigger. It's designed for people to live on."

"Oh," Layla said, thoughtful but disappointed that she wasn't about to go on a huge boat like the one she was looking at.

Smiling at the exchange, Grace got out of the car as Roman killed the engine. She opened the rear door for Layla, who was sitting on that side of the car.

"Where is your boat?" Layla asked, stepping onto the sidewalk and looking around.

"Further down this way," Grace said, pointing. "You can't see it yet, until we get closer."

Roman got out of the car and locked it. "Lovely weather, isn't it?"

"It is," Grace said. She only had a t-shirt and a pair of pants on, and she was plenty warm enough. The forecast was for the day to get warmer as it wore on.

"It should be nice on the beach later, Lay," Roman said. Walking around the car, he took his daughter's hand.

"Can't wait," Layla said excitedly as they started walking in the direction where Graceful Adventure was moored. "I love the beach! I haven't been for ages."

"We'll have a look around the boat, go and see what's going to become our dive shop, find somewhere to have some lunch, then we'll hit the beach for a few hours."

"Can we get KFC?" Layla asked.

"KFC is Layla's favourite fast food," Roman explained to Grace. "She's not allowed it very often. Maybe today could be a day to have it."

"Please!" Layla cried, looking up at her dad.

Grace didn't like the greasy chicken and cold fries that she found KFC to often sell, but she set her own feelings aside for the sake of Layla. "I could get KFC!" she said excitedly.

"See! Grace wants to get it!" Layla cried.

"KFC for lunch it is!" Roman pronounced.

"Awesome!" Grace said, holding her hand at a height where Layla could reach up and give it a high five. She saw Roman smiling, knowing how happy it made him that she and Layla got along well.

The trio crossed the street to walk right along the waterfront. Layla had a great time looking at all the boats, and they soon came into sight of Graceful Adventure. A surprise was waiting for them, in that Tessa Blanchard was on-board. She had her hair up in a bun, a pair of green rubber gloves on, and was scrubbing away at the seating area at the back of the boat with a cloth soaked in warm soapy water from bucket that stood on the deck beside her.

"Hello!" Grace called out, extremely surprised to see their not-yet employee hard at work cleaning the boat.

Tessa looked up, and it was her turn to be surprised. "Oh, hi, guys! I didn't know you were coming down today."

"We didn't know you would be here," Roman called back. "Tessa, we're not even paying you yet. Why are you working on the boat?"

"Come on-board," Tessa called back. Stripping off her gloves, she sat down on a part of the seating area that wasn't wet from her cleaning efforts.

"Daddy, who's that?" Layla asked uncertainly as they walked around to the ramp that connected Graceful Adventure to the dock.

"That's Tessa. She's going to be our diving instructor when the business opens."

Grace noticed that Tully Blanchard's fishing boat and its associated flock of seagulls were nowhere to be seen. She led the way down the ramp, now able to speak to Tessa without raising her voice. "Why are you working when we're not paying you?"

Tessa smiled easily. "Since Roman gave me the spare set of keys, I've come down once a week to check on the boat and give it a clean. Bird crap is a bit of an issue here. That's what I was just dealing with when you arrived. In answer to your question, you soon will be paying me. I planned to tell you I had been doing this the next time I saw you, so that you know I'm willing to go above and beyond for you. You said I'm on a three month trial. I want the job permanently, and I want to get the raise you promised we'd discuss at the end of the three months."

"With this kind of work ethic, you're on the right track," Roman said as he helped Layla step off the end of the ramp onto the deck. "This is Layla, my daughter."

"Hi, Layla!" Tessa said with a big smile. "Have you ever been on a boat before?"

"No," Layla said with more than a hint of shyness.

"Well, you picked a nice one to start with," Tessa said brightly.

Grace could see right away that Tessa had a good manner with kids. It was an important quality in a diving instructor because younger people were also prospective clients.

"So, what brings you guys down here?" Tessa enquired, wiping her brow now that she was having a minute to rest.

"We wanted to show Layla the boat and the shop," Roman said. "Even though the shop purchase hasn't been finalised yet, we can still shoot by and show her where it is. Then we're hitting the beach this afternoon."

"Sounds like my idea of a good day," Tessa said.

"Come on, let's have a look around the boat, Lay," Roman said, taking her hand again.

"How is the purchase coming along? Any news?" Tessa asked Grace.

"We're hoping it might go through next week," Grace said, happy to pass on the exciting news. "Then we can get the shop fitters in. They've told us they'll need three weeks, then we'll be able to set a date for the grand opening."

"Will you be able to get WWE to help with advertising it?"

"Yeah, they're going to put out a tweet about it. Rome and I will be there, so we'll be doing a bit of a meet and greet for people who show up."

"Sounds good," Tessa smiled. "I went for a dive the other day. I hired myself some Cressi gear to try it out. I've never used their stuff before. It seems logical that you'd want me to use gear from one of our suppliers, so I thought I'd better try it."

Grace nodded. "Yes, I was going to make it a policy that only Cressi or ScubaPro stuff is used on the boat. What did you think to it? Personally, I've used Cressi for years."

"Yeah, it was good. I certainly won't have a problem continuing to use it, or with recommending it to clients."

Layla and Roman reappeared from their tour below deck.

"What do you think of the boat, Layla?" Grace asked.

"It's great! And dad said it's called Graceful Adventure. I like that name."

"Me too," Grace smiled.

"Dad?" Layla asked, using the typical tone used by a child when they wanted something and kind of expected not to get it.

"What, sweet pea?" Roman asked, looking down at her.

"Am I old enough to dive? You do it, Grace does it. I want to try."

Roman sat down on the seating that ran around the stern section of the boat, opposite Tessa. Layla hopped onto his lap without needing to be asked. "You are old enough. The thing is, you can't just dive. You have to learn how to do it safely. Your mom and I will have to make a decision on whether you can have lessons, okay?"

"Okay," Layla said, looking downcast in anticipation of a negative answer.

Grace was a couple of weeks away from completing, she hoped, her course that would see her qualify as a dive instructor. She found herself thinking that she would love it if Layla was her first student. The decision wasn't hers though, of course.

They hung around on the boat for a while, before leaving Tessa to get on with the work she was doing. Grace left her with the promise that she would be paid something extra in her first pay check for what she had been doing to maintain the boat.

The dive shop was the next destination. It was a short car journey away, so they walked back to the Mercedes. In order to beat the adults to the car, Layla ran the last fifty yards to the car. It gave Grace a brief chance to float an idea to Roman without Layla hearing it.

"Rome, if you and Andrea decide that Lay can have lessons, I'd love to teach her. If that's what you'd want, I mean."

Roman stopped walking and gave her a warm smile. "I was going to ask you if you would. Honestly? I'd love to tell Lay she can have diving lessons, and have you be her instructor. It would give the two of you something to bond over. The thing is, I can't make decisions like that on my own. Andrea has a right to a say on it."

"I understand that," Grace said, taking his hand and squeezing it. "That's one of the reasons why I have another suggestion. We're going to the beach after lunch, right? Why don't we hire some snorkel gear from somewhere? Layla can try that before anything more in depth. It's the best way to start out for kids anyway."

"I think that's an excellent idea," Roman beamed. "Lay will love it, I'm sure. Now, if only there was a dive shop around here where we could get some gear."

Grace laughed. "I've heard there soon will be one."

"Come on!" Layla called out impatiently, waiting by the car.

"We're coming, sweet pea," Roman said, starting to walk again. "We've got an idea, too. You can't dive without lessons, but you can snorkel. How would you like to try that this afternoon when we go to the beach?"

"Can I? That would be awesome!" Layla asked with wide, excited eyes.

"You can. Grace is going to teach you how to do it. You'll have to listen to her, and do exactly as she says, alright?"

"I will," Layla said, seeming more interested in getting the car, which was still locked. She impatiently tried the door handle anyway.

"Lay, look at me," Roman said with a little bit more sternness in his voice. She immediately did as he said. "This is a serious thing. You need to promise you'll do exactly what Grace says."

"I will. I promise," Layla said, her expression now matching the seriousness that Roman had conveyed to her.

Watching on from a short distance away, Grace found herself thinking, as she often did, what a brilliant dad Roman was, and what well-raised girl Layla was. She was truly a credit to both of her parents.

"Right then, who's up for KFC?" Roman asked, ramping up the enthusiasm.

"Me!" Grace cried along with Layla.

"Then let's go!" Roman said as he unlocked the car.


	32. Chapter 32

Approaching a beachfront dive shop, Grace intended to have a keen eye for detail when she went in, wanting to spot anything that she might have omitted in her plans for Miami Diving Adventures.

Scuba and Swim, the shop was named. Grace liked the name of her store better. She stopped for a moment to look at the bullet points on the cheap wooden sign above the door.

Sales, repair, rental, instruction, authorised dealer.

Repairing and servicing gear was an important part of a dive shop, with good money to be made. For that reason, a workshop area in the back right corner of the store was on the plan Grace had put together with the shop fitting company. It would have all of the necessary equipment fitted from day one.

What Grace needed was someone with the knowledge to operate that equipment. She had Deonna Purrazzo signed up as the shop's manager, and possibly Trevor Campbell as an assistant when he reached a decision on the job offer. Both of those people had experience in retail, but had none with scuba diving. For that reason, Miami Diving Adventures were now advertising for a sales assistant with that kind of experience. Grace was prepared to take on one, or possibly even two people, depending on the quality of the applicants who came forward.

"Looks a bit run down," Roman commented to her quietly. He was carrying two bags with all of their beachwear inside. Once they had their snorkel gear, they would need to find a beach hut to change in.

The sea breeze and the salty air had certainly done the exterior of the dive shop no favours over the years, Grace saw. It didn't compare to the brand new look that Miami Diving Adventures was soon going to have.

"Let's hope their gear is in better shape," Grace chuckled.

"Do I get to choose my own stuff?" Layla asked. Standing there holding Roman's hand, she looked like she couldn't wait to go inside.

"We'll see what we can do," Grace said cheerfully. "The most important thing is to get gear that's a good fit for you. Hopefully they have a good selection for people your age."

"Let's go and have a look," Roman said.

Grace followed them inside. She found the shop to be quite dimly lit, thanks to the smallish windows being covered with display pictures. It told her not to make the same mistake with her shop. Having displays was important, but so was having some natural light to brighten up the in-store experience for customers.

Looking around at some of the displays, Grace saw a couple of brand names she recognised. There was no top quality gear of the kind that she was going to stock. She got the feeling this place mainly specialised in rental, and for whatever reason didn't want to offer people who knew what they were looking at the kind of gear they might like. Luckily, her trio were only going to be snorkelling. One thing the shop did have in its favour was that it was quite busy. Saturday afternoon was understandably a popular time for the Miami beaches.

"Is this what your shop is going to be like, dad?" Layla asked, looking around as they joined the back of the line for the sales counter.

"Similar, sweet pea. Ours is going to be newer and better, of course."

Grace smiled at the pride with which he spoke. Continuing to survey the shop, she couldn't see anything that she hadn't thought of for Miami Diving Adventures. Picturing her own business up and running filled her with excitement. It felt like it was taking forever to get it ready, but in truth the progress had been quite quick as far as purchasing the shop was concerned. Not needing a mortgage had been a big help in that regard.

There were two people serving at the counter. When Grace's turn came to step forward, she was greeted by a grey haired man who looked to be in his fifties. He looked like someone who had been harassed all day, with his patience being stretched – not a good look for a sales assistant.

"Help you?" he asked.

"We're looking to rent some snorkel gear, please. Three sets, including one for a child. It's her first time trying it, so we'll need a snorkel vest too."

"Get two sets, I'll stay on the beach and watch our belongings," Roman said, giving Grace a look that said, 'You take this.'

Grace realised what he was thinking. If Layla was going to have scuba lessons with her, which hadn't been decided yet, it would be a good thing if she was already used to trusting her and taking her instruction in the water. Plus it would be a good bonding experience, which Grace wanted as much as Roman wanted it.

In any event, the assistant didn't seem interested in their story. "The rental gear is over there. Come back when you have what you want," he said, gesturing over to his left.

Charming, Grace thought, keeping a happy look on her face for Layla's sake.

"I'll wait for you guys outside," Roman said, giving Grace that look again. "Lay, let Grace help you choose your gear, okay?"

"Okay," she replied cheerfully.

With a parting smile to Grace, Roman headed for the exit. It wasn't the first time Grace had been left in charge of Layla, but the responsibility and trust still felt good. "Right, let's see what we can find," she said, following Layla over to the rental gear, a lot of which looked like cheap stuff to Grace's experienced eye. She was going to have to try and pick out the good stuff among the junk, as a bad first experience could well put Layla off snorkelling and diving for good.

"What's your favourite colour, Lay?" Grace asked. For obvious reasons, the children's snorkel sets were all brightly coloured.

"Blue," Layla said, picking up a mask with a light blue frame.

Grace could see that the one she had in her hand was cheaply made, with a tough, clear skirt that was unlikely to be comfortable to wear. Besides, she much preferred black skirts to clear ones. She picked up a mask with black skirts and a dark blue frame. "This one might be better for you. Let's try it on."

Crouching down, Grace taught Layla how to adjust the mask's strap, and explained how it was important to wear it so that it made a watertight seal, but wasn't tight enough to be uncomfortable. "You want it not to leak, but not to feel like it's pressing on your face."

She helped Layla to put the mask on, and assisted her with adjusting the strap to suit her head. "Now, breathe in, and if it's a good fit you should feel a bit of suction from the mask."

Layla breathed in, and smiled as she experienced what had been described to her. "Yes, I felt it. That means this one fits me, right?"

"That's right," Grace said, loving the enthusiasm. This was going to be one of the best parts of becoming a diving instructor, and it was even better with Layla because of their personal relationship. "Now, take the mask off for me and we'll find you a snorkel."

"Aren't they all the same?" Layla asked as she removed her mask.

Grace stood up and took a couple of different snorkels from the display. One was blue, the other black. She crouched back down with them in hand. "No, they're not the same. They all have slightly different shapes, and different sized mouthpieces, see? Ideally, we'd try quite a few and find the perfect one to fit your mouth, but they don't have many good ones here."

"What makes a good one?" Layla asked.

Pleasingly, Grace could tell that Layla was taking in the conversation, willing to learn and attempting to do so. She was a smart kid. "This one has what is called a deflector at the top to stop water getting into it so easily," she explained, showing Layla what she was talking about. "And at the bottom end it has a valve so that water can't come down the snorkel and get into your mouth."

"That would be scary."

"Exactly, so we don't want that to happen. Now, let's try this blue one and see how it fits you. First, we need to attach it to the mask." Grace demonstrated how to unfasten the strap from one end of the mask and put it through the connector halfway up the snorkel tube. "See if you can put the strap back on for me," she said, mindful that hands-on teaching was good for people, especially kids.

Layla took the mask and made a good job of threading the end of the strap back through the two slots at the end of the mask. "Like that?" she asked hopefully, looking up at Grace.

"That's perfect! Let's put the mask back on and see how the snorkel fits."

Unaided, Layla put the mask back on and got it comfortable on her face. When she put the snorkel in her mouth, Grace could see that it was quite a good fit. "How's that, Lay? Comfortable?"

"Mmm hmm," Layla said positively.

"Does it hurt your gums? Does your jaw feel uncomfortable?"

Layla took the snorkel back out. "It's good. It didn't hurt."

"Awesome!" Grace said with a big smile. "Okay, mask off for me. The next thing we need is your fins."

They had to walk further down the shop to where the rows of fins were hanging.

"Those ones there are the same colour," Layla said, pointing to some that were on the top row, out of her reach.

Grace could see they would be too big for her feet, though. Further along, there was another pair almost the same colour in a smaller size. "They're too big, honey. These ones here are more your size." She took them off the display and crouched down beside Layla with them. "Take your shoes and socks off for me. Let's try these on."

Layla did as she had been asked. She was soon wriggling her feet into the holes on the fins.

"How do they fit?" Grace asked. "We don't want them too loose because they'll fall off in the water. But if they're too tight they'll rub on your feet and make you sore."

"I think they're okay," Layla said uncertainly, wanting to be positive. "Actually, they might be a bit tight."

"Okay," Grace said, looking back at the display. Again, she found it a bit more limited than she would have liked. She could only see two pairs of fins the next size up, and one of them was a hideous bright pink colour. The black ones would have to do. "Try these ones," she said, handing them over.

While Layla put the black fins on, Grace hung the blue ones back up.

"These are good," Layla announced.

"Alright! I'll sort out my gear, grab you a vest, then we can go."

Whenever possible, Grace liked to wear all black gear. Unfortunately there were no black fins in her size, so she had to settle for illuminous yellow ones. It took her a lot less time to sort her gear than it had to help Layla, and they were soon back in line to pay for the rental.

A few minutes later, they walked out of the store, finding Roman standing there soaking up some rays. "All set?" he asked when he saw them.

"We're all geared up," Grace confirmed with a smile. "Show him, Lay."

Layla showed Roman the gear she was carrying.

"Awesome! Excited?" he asked her.

"Yes! We need to change."

Grace nodded. "We do. Let's go find a hut we can use."

Proceeding onto the beach, they found one of the small wooden huts unoccupied. Roman went inside first with Layla, then Grace went in afterwards. When she emerged, she found Layla with her snorkel vest and fins on, ready to go.

"Ready?" Grace asked, carrying her gear for now. She handed her clothes to Roman, and he stashed them in one of his bags.

"Yes! Let's go!" Layla cried excitedly.

The trio walked down the beach, with Roman looking for somewhere to sit that was a reasonable distance away from other people. They got down near to the high tide mark on the sand before he picked a spot. Grace figured that he wanted a good view of Layla's first experience in the water.

"Here will do," he decided, putting the bags he was carrying down. He turned his attention to Layla. "Remember, listen to what Grace says, and do exactly what she tells you, okay?"

"Okay," Layla promised.

"Oh, and I need you to do one more thing."

"What?" Layla asked, sounding non too pleased about whatever might be coming.

"Have lots of fun!" Roman quickly leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before she could react.

"I will!"

Grace found it adorable. She was next to get a kiss from Roman, this one on the lips. "And you have fun too," he said.

"Will do, honey. Let's go, Layla. Time to see if we can spot any fish."

"There's going to be fish?" Layla asked, apparently surprised by that prospect.

"There might be. Let's go and see."

Layla resumed walking towards the sea, enjoying flopping her fins on the sand as she walked. Grace gave Roman a parting smile, then walked after her.

When they reached the sea, Grace asked Layla to wait while she put her own fins on. With that done, they waded into the shallows.

"Right, put your mask and snorkel on, Lay," Grace instructed. She put on her own mask while Layla did the same. For now, Grace left her snorkel out so that she could talk to Layla. Her job was going to be making sure Layla was comfortable before she could start snorkelling herself.

"Take long, full breaths, like this," Grace said, demonstrating. "Make sure you get plenty of air. If you get water in the snorkel, breathe out hard and you'll blow it out."

Layla nodded her understanding.

"Okay, swim for me, Lay, and put your head under the water. We'll stay here where it's shallow so that you can put your feet down and stand up if you feel unsure."

With Grace close at hand in case of any problems, Layla began swimming slowly around. In water this shallow there would be nothing to see apart from sand, stones and other junk found on a beach, but it was getting her used to snorkelling that mattered.

After a few minutes, Layla put her feet down and stood, pulling her snorkel out of her mouth. "Grace! I did it!" she cried. "This is so cool!"

"You're doing great!" Grace said, giving her a high five.

"You're not swimming," Layla pointed out.

"I will, honey. I'm happy making sure you're having fun for now. Let's go a little bit deeper."

They waded further into the sea, and Layla started swimming again. Grace made sure to stick close to her, just in case. She did glance back at the beach, seeing Roman sitting with his phone raised, pointed in their direction. He was either taking pictures or filming them. Either way, he was capturing memories of the fun his daughter was having.

After about twenty minutes of supervising Layla, Grace was confident enough to do a bit of snorkelling herself. There was a memorable moment when a small group of bright blue fish swam by. Grace was under the water, with Layla on the surface, head under. Grace pointed into the direction of the fish, and enjoyed seeing Layla's eyes widen in excitement behind her mask when she turned in that direction and saw them.

Eventually, Grace saw Layla surface, kicking her legs slowly even though the vest was helping her with buoyancy. Surfacing immediately, Grace pulled out her snorkel. "You okay?"

"I'm thirsty," Layla said.

"Yes, snorkelling or diving can give you a dry throat. Shall we take a break and go see your dad?"

"Yeah," Layla said, setting off back towards the beach.

A couple of minutes later, they were walking up the sand towards Roman.

"How was that, Lay? It looked like fun!" he called out when they got near to him.

"It was cool! We saw some fishes!" she cried.

"What kind?" Roman asked excitedly.

"I don't know, but they were pretty blue ones."

Grace gave Roman an 'awww' look as he stood up to greet them. "Lay needs a drink," she reported. "I think I could use one, too."

"Okay. Why don't we go and see what we can find?" Roman said to Layla. "Take your gear off and we can go. Grace will stay here and watch our things."

As Layla bent down to take off her fins, Roman gave Grace a kiss on the cheek and whispered into her ear. "Thank you, babe. You're so good with her. I love you."

Let's hope Andrea sees it that way and allows me to give her diving lessons, Grace thought.


	33. Chapter 33

"How is your business going?" was a question Grace was used to getting from a colleague on a daily basis, or at least a close variant of it. Even so, hearing it from Lucy Thorne was something of a novelty. They had happened to find themselves standing together getting coffee in the catering area. Lucy getting her own coffee was something of a surprise to Grace, but she certainly wasn't going to comment on it.

"Last I heard you were waiting for the purchase to go through on your dive shop," Lucy said as a follow up to her question.

"Oh, it's gone through now," Grace was delighted to report as she fixed her drink. "We have a shop fitting company working on it as we speak. It's a complete renovation, so they've told us it will take three weeks. As of today, they're a week into it. When it's done, we have to stock it, of course, before we can open."

"Exciting times," Lucy smiled. "Did you get the website and everything taken care of?"

"Yes. The guy you put me in contact with did an amazing job, so thanks again. It was such a help, and getting it done free of charge was fantastic. The site is up already, with a big 'opening soon' banner across it. It looks amazing."

"I'm glad. Don't forget Bobby and I want those diving lessons."

"I haven't forgotten," Grace assured her. "I actually passed my instructor course a couple of days ago, so I'm all set to teach you both once we're up and running. Free of charge obviously, as we agreed."

"Once you're open for business, we'll get together and work out a date when Bobby and I are free to come down."

"We'll want to allow three days if you want to do a course and gain certification," Grace said.

"Three days in Miami," Lucy said thoughtfully. "It has been a while since I had a holiday. I guess that would be nice."

"Sounds like a plan," Grace said brightly, thinking that it was hard to image Lucy on a vacation. She came across as the kind of person whose entire life revolved around work. Some people were just like that.

"Have you got all of your staff lined up and ready to go?" Lucy asked. Now with her drink fixed, she stood there sipping it while they talked.

Grace took her coffee and moved out of the way in case someone else came to get one. "Yeah. We've had our diving instructor and her assistant signed up for a while. Then we hired a manager, who's going to run the business in Roman and I's absence, and will work in the dive shop. I have a friend who is potentially making a move down to Miami to take a sales assistant job with me. I'm expecting an answer on that any day now. And this past week we recruited two more people. Deonna, my manager, and Trevor, my friend, both have retail experience, but no diving experience."

"Not ideal for a dive shop," Lucy commented.

Grace nodded. "Right, exactly. So we wanted to hire at least one person with experience of diving and of maintaining and repairing scuba gear. The shop will have a workshop for that side of things, so I obviously needed someone to be able to work in it. It turned out we had two well-qualified people apply, so we've taken them both. There's a guy called Darren Young who has recently moved to Miami with his husband, and there's a women called Chelsea Green who is coming to work for us from another dive shop in the area."

"Seems like you're all set," Lucy said with another smile. "I have to get back to work, but I'm very happy for you."

"Thank you," Grace said, returning the smile in kind. In the spur of the moment, she decided to take the plunge by putting an idea out there that had been on her mind for some time. "There is one more thing, if I may," she said quickly before Lucy had a chance to walk away.

"Oh?" Lucy asked, stopping to hear her out.

"I'm going to start doing a YouTube series, like the one Kofi does with his video games or the one Sonya and Mandy do with their donuts. I'm going to have wrestlers come down to dive with me. We'll do a bit of filming underwater, and we'll do a chat segment on the boat either before or afterwards."

"Interesting idea," Lucy said, nodding slightly in approval. "It would be a good way of marketing your business. I know Sonya and Mandy have started selling merchandise for their donut show."

"Yeah," Grace said, bracing herself for the big push. "I was kind of hoping that I might be able to get myself a big exclusive for my first episode. I was wondering if you would be my first guest, please? It would be huge to have a rare interview with Lucy Thorne."

Lucy considered the proposal for a moment. "It does fit in with what we're doing to anger the fans. They're pissed off because I'm 'overpushing' you, so it would trigger them if they saw you were able to get me on your show. It would be like, 'Oh, of course she's on Grace's show. Why wouldn't she be?' I kind of like that."

"Me too! That's exactly what I hoped you'd say. So, when I announce the show, I can say that I have a huge guest for the debut episode? I won't name you as I want the suspense."

"Be careful calling me huge," Lucy said with humour. "But yes, count me in for episode one."

"Thanks! I appreciate it!" Grace said, beaming.

"You're welcome. I'll see you later."

With that, Lucy walked away, leaving Grace to reflect on the positive, successful conversation. The YouTube show was taking shape. What she needed now was a name for it. It was something to put some thought into over the coming days.

On her way back to the locker room with her coffee, Grace tried her best to come up with names to pitch to Roman to see if he liked any of them. Unfortunately, she drew a complete blank. As she walked into the locker room, she saw that Zelina had just arrived. They hadn't flown out from Orlando for the event together as normal because Zelina and Seth had been on vacation for a few days.

"Hey, Zel," Grace said, approaching her teammate from behind. "How was your few days in the sun?"

"Warmer than here," Zelina quipped. "But there's no place like home."

"Amen to that," Grace said. Although she had been born in Canada, she had been raised in New York, and was billed from Brooklyn by WWE. Fastlane was taking place at Madison Square Garden. Even being the hometown team was unlikely to prevent them being crapped on by the crowd, which was just fine with Grace.

Zelina was wearing a black leather jacket and matching leather gloves. It soon became apparent that protection against the February cold weather was not the only reason for the gloves. Zelina removed the one from her left hand and Grace saw a new sparking diamond ring on her ring finger, in place of the cheaper promise ring that she had worn since before Grace had known her. "Z! Is that what I think it is?"

"If you think it's an engagement ring, then yes it is!" Zelina announced delightedly. "Seth popped the question the night before last. We're going to announce it publically tonight, but we wanted to tell our families and friends first."

"It's gorgeous," Grace said, taking Zelina's hand to get a closer look at the ring.

Some of the other women had heard the exchange. Within moments, everyone in the locker room was crowding around Zelina to pass on their best wishes and get a look at the ring.

Grace took out her phone to take a picture of it. There was a text message waiting for her. Apparently she had missed the vibration at some point.

_Trevor Campbell: Hi, Grace. I spoke to Tyler again just now about our move to Miami. If it's still okay for me to loan the money we talked about and work in your dive shop, I would be delighted to accept. We both want a fresh start away from here._

How weird, Grace though. Trevor had sent a text right after she had mentioned him to Lucy Thorne. She felt happy for Trevor, and in a sense she admired his courage. He was making a big decision in the hope of making a better life for him and his son. She typed out a quick reply.

_Yes, the offer is still open. Roman and I will consider it a pleasure to help you guys out. I'm backstage at a show right now, so I'll call you tomorrow morning and we'll work out some details._

A response came through almost immediately.

_Trevor Campbell: Thank you, to you and Roman. Tyler and I are blessed with your kindness._

Blessed, Grace thought. Maybe Trevor had been serious when he had said he was going to go to church and offer thanks for his miraculous survival in the car wreck.

* * *

Several hours later, the Fastlane pay-per-view was in full swing. Grace and Zelina were waiting in Gorilla for The Stone Roses' tag team match against the relatively newly-formed heel team of Shayna Baszler and Rhea Ripley. Their opponents were finishing up their entrance routine. It was obvious from the crowd response that they were going to be supporting the supposed heels over the supposed babyfaces.

When Baszler's music stopped playing, a near silence descended on the arena. The fans were literally preparing themselves to let loose, Grace realised. Bring it on, she thought. The more the marks raged at her, the better, especially on the way to Wrestlemania.

The Stone Roses' music dropped. Loud booing drowned out the first few seconds of it, and drew a smile from Zelina. "Our people love us," she said with a chuckle before stepping through the curtain.

They made their way down to the ring, looking happy to be there in typical babyface fashion despite the negative reaction they were getting.

After giving their usual heart pose to finish their entrance, The Stone Roses' music faded out. As they proceeded over to their corner, Zelina made a point of telling Grace she would start the match for their team. Even so, the crowd's venom was mainly directed at Grace. Some people continued booing, others start the now familiar 'Grace Stone sucks' chant.

A couple of tags were exchanged between the members of each team before Zelina found herself isolated in the ring for an extended period of time. The match was booked that way for a deliberate reason. As the fans well knew, Grace would eventually get a hot tag and start running riot on the two opponents.

Sure enough, after taking quite an ass kicking, Zelina was able to reach Grace for a hot tag. Boos erupted instantly as she rushed into the ring, fired up and full of energy. She proceeded to demolish both Baszler and Ripley, essentially finishing the Australian off with a pop-up powerbomb.

Boos filled the famous MSG arena once more. The fans had no real doubt that the match was over, but there was still an exclamation point to be put on it. Grace got her legs around Rhea's neck, locking in the Set in Stone.

To the fury of the crowd, Rhea tapped out almost immediately. Grace revelled in the reaction as she got up to celebrate. There was a dazzling smile on her face, as if she was being cheered to the rafters rather than booed out of the building.

Zelina had been down on the outside after her beating. Now that the match was over, she was suddenly able to return to the ring to celebrate with Grace. They hugged each other enthusiastically, then raised each other's hands in victory, facing the hard camera.

The booing abruptly changed to cheers. Unbeknownst to the Stone Roses, Sasha Banks had just entered the ring behind them, having come through the crowd with a steel chair in hand.

Taking a run up, Sasha blasted Zelina in the back with the chair, sending her falling forwards through the ropes to the floor.

Grace spun around to face the threat, only to take a chair to the stomach. Doubling over in pain, she took another chair shot to the back and went down to the mat.

Bracing herself, Grace awaited what was to come next. Sasha set about beating the hell out of her with the chair, blasting her repeatedly in the back and stomach as she writhed around in pain. Grace tried to focus on the cheers Sasha was receiving as the blows rained down on her. One particularly painful shot connected with her shoulder. Grace knew she was going to be left with serious bruising, but that was part of the business.

Finally, Grace heard the chair crash to the mat. The beating was over. She was wracked with pain, lying there acting like she was unconscious. What she heard next was music to hear ears. A chant filled the arena. It sounded like everyone in the place was joining in with it.

"Thank you, Sasha!"


	34. Chapter 34

Sitting in catering the night after Fastlane, Grace was in quite a bit of pain. Her back and stomach were covered in bruises, and her left shoulder was also badly bruised. Sasha Banks had done a proper number on her with the steel chair, not that Grace was going to complain about it. She was no stranger to giving or taking a good beating to get a storyline over. It was something that she considered to be part of the job. That didn't make it hurt any less, of course.

"Hey, look at this," Zelina said from across the table. They had been sitting there sharing a coffee and a companionable silence while looking at stuff on their phones. Zelina now turned her phone around and handed it to Grace. "One of our friends took that right before Seth asked me to marry him."

Wincing in pain, Grace reached across the table to take the phone. She looked at the picture on the display, which showed Zelina and Set standing hand in hand on a white sand beach, looking out to sea. The sun was just about to dip below the horizon, turning the sky a deep orange colour in a truly magnificent sunset. The photo was breath-taking. It looked like it could be used for a book cover or something. "Z, that's beautiful," she breathed.

"Scroll right," Zelina said.

Grace did so. A picture of Seth down on one knee on the sand appeared. The photographer was some distance away, meaning that the ring in his hand couldn't be seen. Nonetheless, it was a lovely romantic picture. "You have to get these frame, Zel. What lovely memories. I know I've said it before, but I'm so happy for you guys. You're such a great couple."

"Thank you," Zelina smiled. "Honestly, I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to ask me. Thankfully, he did. We're going to have our wedding right there on that same beach. We don't want a huge affair, just a few family and friends each."

"It's a lovely idea. I can't wait to see the pictures," Grace said, trying her best not to smile at her comment as she handed the phone back over.

"Don't be stupid! You're going to be there!" Zelina scolded.

Grace laughed. "Oh! I make the exclusive guest list."

"Idiot," Zelina chuckled. "All we need to do now is set a date."

"And buy a dress," Grace pointed out.

"Well, yeah. I meant to arrange the wedding all we need to do is set a date. But yes, I need to buy a dress. My mom has already decided she's going to be the one shopping with me."

Grace laughed again. "She's pulled rank. I can't fault her for that, to be honest."

Silence returned to the table for a moment as both women drank from their coffees.

"What are your plans this week?" Zelina asked.

Lucy Thorne had brought in a policy of having no live events between the end of February pay-per-view event and Wrestlemania in early April. The intention was obviously to minimize the risk of people getting injured and missing the biggest event of the year. For the wrestlers, it meant valuable time off.

"We're heading home tomorrow. Rome is picking Layla up from school and she's staying over tomorrow night. Then we're heading down to Miami on Wednesday to attend to a few things down there. We haven't been down there since the work started on the shop. We're also going to buy a decent camera for when we make videos for the YouTube show I told you about."

"I remember," Zelina said, sipping from her coffee. "Have you got a name for it yet?"

"I was chatting with my friend Clementine last night and we were throwing ideas around. Eventually, we settled on a name I like. Roman thought it was the best one out of the list we came up with, too. I'm going to call it Diving with Grace."

"That's good," Zelina said, nodding her approval. "It says exactly what the show is about, and it kind of has a double meaning. I don't know how many of your guests are going to be graceful in the water though."

Grace giggled. "Yes, that remains to be seen. Lucy Thorne is lined up for episode one, but I'd love you to be my second guest, if you're up for it?"

"Sure, I'll do it," Zelina said without needing to think about it. "People can't get themselves enough of The Stone Roses."

That blatant falsehood nearly made Grace spit her coffee. "I'm not sure that's entirely accurate," she laughed. "Either way, Stone Roses is what they're going to get."

"Hell yeah they are," Zelina smiled.

* * *

The good luck that Roman and Grace always seemed to have with weather when they went to Miami was continuing. It was warm and quite sunny on Wednesday lunch time when Roman parked his Ford GT just down the street from the shop that was on its way to becoming Miami Diving Adventures.

"That's a good sign," Grace commented. Further up the street, she could see three white vans parked outside the shop. They all bore the logo and branding of the shop fitting company.

"It wouldn't have been good if we got here and found no one working," Roman said, smiling in amusement.

They got out of the car and proceeded up the street. It became apparent even before they got to the shop that the workers were currently on their lunch break, for there were no sounds of work coming from inside, and they could hear men laughing and joking in the direction of the vans.

As they approached, Grace saw that two of the vans were parked back to back. Both of them had their rear doors open, with men in high visibility jackets sitting in the open doorways eating sandwiches and snacks. A few other men were standing around on the sidewalk, also on a lunch break.

"Hi," Roman said when they reached the group. "I'm Roman, this is Grace. This is our shop you're working on. We wondered if we could have a quick look around and see how you're getting on?"

The banter and merriment had quickly stopped. Several of the men seemed to have gone shy all of a sudden, Grace noticed. These were guys more suited to manual labour than interacting face to face with customers. A man with greying brown hair and a weathered face stepped forward, offering his hand to Roman. "I'm Bill. I'm the foreman here. I can show you around, not that there's a lot to see at the moment."

"We won't take up much of your time," Roman said as they shook hands. "We were in the area, so we thought we'd swing by and take a look."

That wasn't exactly true, Grace thought as she shook Bill's hand. Still, it sounded better than, "We decided to come and check up on you because we want this finished as soon as possible and we're excited to see how it's going."

"It's lucky you caught us on break, I couldn't have let you on the site while we were working," Bill said as he led them over towards the entrance in the temporary wooden wall that had been erected around the shop while it was being renovated.

"Any problems so far?" Roman asked. He followed Bill through the door in the wooden wall and held it open for Grace.

"None," Bill was happy to report. "We've removed everything that was left by the previous owner, and as you'll see, we're now working on the refit."

Following the two men into the shop, Grace left them to talk to each other, safe in the knowledge that Roman would pass on anything of any importance that might be said. Walking further into the main shop area, several things caught her attention. Firstly, there were a lot of tools and materials on the floor. She had to walk carefully to avoid stepping on things.

"I see the electrics have been done," she commented, seeing new wiring for lights hanging out of the ceiling, tied around themselves to keep them up high for the sake of safety.

"First fix electrics are done, yes," Bill said from over in the corner where he and Roman were standing.

Grace was no expert on building work, and didn't know what first fix electrics meant. She guessed it was probably wiring, with lights, sockets and things like that to be done later, when the work was further along.

Over on the left side of the shop, the frame of the sales counter had been erected. Grace pictured herself and her staff doing business there, hopefully with happy, regular customers. It brought a smile to her face, driving home that her dream was coming to fruition right before her eyes.

In the back right corner of the shop, another frame had been built. It would become the workshop's workbench. Customer's scuba gear would be serviced and repaired over there, and air tanks would be refilled with air lines that were yet to be installed.

"Grace, do you want to look through here?" Roman asked. He was about to walk through to the toilets, staffroom and storeroom areas. The door with the key code lock had been removed, leaving the frame currently empty.

"Sure, let's have a look," she said, walking over there.

"There's not much to see," Bill said, leading the way. "Actually, there's nothing to see. It's completely gutted back here right now."

Grace soon saw that his description was accurate. Everything from the doors, to the wash basins, to toilets, to the lighting had been removed from all of the rooms. In the store room at the back of the building, she saw that a dumpster had been brought in through the roller shutter door. It was almost full off all the stuff that had been removed from the various rooms.

"And you're going to get all of this fixed up for us in two weeks?" she asked Bill, turning to look at him. She had been unable not to sound doubtful, for it seemed like an incredible amount of work to do in that period of time.

"Yes, ma'am," Bill said with relaxed confidence. "I understand that it might not look like it right now, but we're right on the agreed upon schedule."

"That's great to hear," Roman said. "We should probably get out of here and let you have your break."

They said their goodbyes and walked back out into the street.

"Rome, it seems like so much work to do in that space of time," Grace said before they got back into his car. Concern was written all over her face.

Roman stepped up to her and put his arms around her waist. "Relax, babe. They are a well-respected, highly-rated company. They have plenty of guys on the job. It's going to be fine."

"Yeah?" Grace asked quietly. She looked into his eyes, trusting him.

"Yeah," he promised, kissing her on the lips.

Grace felt better with his reassurance. He helped further by moving them on to the next thing on their itinerary for the day, giving her something else to think about.

"We're going to go to that electronics place I found online next," he said.

"Yes, we need to buy the video camera," Grace said, shaking off her concerns as best she could and walking over to get in the car. They were going to purchase a high quality camera that was going to be kept on Graceful Adventure and used to film the episodes of Diving with Grace.

After getting into the car, Roman look at the divers watch that Grace had bought him for Christmas. "We should probably move a bit quick, too. We might end up being late meeting up with Tessa and Deonna if we don't."

Apart from in Tessa Blanchard's case, all of the recruitment Grace had done for Miami Diving Adventures had been conducted via video interviews, due to WWE's travel schedule. The down side was that she hadn't as yet met her staff in person. Considering it important to meet her businesses' manager before the company opened for trade, Grace had arranged to meet Deonna Purrazzo at Graceful Adventure's dock, along with Tessa.

"I'm looking forward to meeting Deonna," Grace said. "I'm hoping she comes across as well in person as she did in her interview."

Roman nodded. "Me too. We'll soon see."


	35. Chapter 35

Unusually, Roman had been able to find a parking space near to the end of the dock where Graceful Adventure resided. Grace took the new video camera that she had just purchased with her when she got out of the Ford GT. The camera would be stored below deck on the boat from now on, so that it was on hand whenever it was needed.

"What are the odds we find Tessa cleaning the boat again?" Roman said with a grin as they crossed the street to walk along the waterfront.

"Slim," Grace chuckled. "Even slimmer that we find Deonna helping her, but I guess you never know. I'll settle for them both being there as arranged."

The boat's owners were actually running nearly half an hour late, thanks in part to an overly-talkative sales assistant at the store where they had purchased the camera. He had insisted on telling them all about the features of several different models, despite being told that they were in a hurry. Still, Grace reasoned that it had at least led them to make a good purchase.

Graceful Adventure soon came into view. Tessa and Deonna were both there as arranged, Grace saw. Interestingly, they were sitting in the open area at the back of the boat, packing up two sets of scuba gear. "Have they been on a dive?" she asked Roman.

"Sure looks like it," he replied.

They walked around the dock and were at the top of the ramp before Tessa looked up and noticed them. Opposite her, Deonna had her back to the ramp, and therefore had to turn around when Tessa spoke. "Hi, guys! How are you?"

"We're good. How are you?" Grace asked, smiling as she walked down the ramp with Roman close behind. She offered her hand to Deonna, who stood up to greet her. "Deonna, we meet at last!"

"We do!" Deonna smiled, shaking hands. "I've never done a video interview for a job before, so it's odd to kind of go through this first meeting twice."

"I was thinking the same thing earlier," Grace said. "Meet Roman," she added as he reached the bottom of the ramp.

"Hello, Deonna. Nice to meet you," Roman said with a polite smile. Another handshake was exchanged.

"Nice to meet you, Roman. Thank you for hiring me to be your manager. I'm really looking forward to getting started."

"It won't be long now," Roman said. "We were just up at the shop, actually. We had a look around to see how the shop fitters are getting on."

"Is everything on track?" Deonna asked.

"They assured us it was," Roman replied. "The place is gutted at the moment. They have done some work on the electrics, and the sales counter and workshop were just taking shape."

"You'd be surprised how quickly things go from looking nowhere near finished to being finished," Tessa said, still sitting on the other side of the boat. "I remember when my parents had a lot of work done on our house when I was a kid. It went on for like a month, and with just a few days left it seemed like there was so much to do. They ended up finishing a day early."

"That's reassuring," Grace said with a relieved smile. She had already believed Roman's promise that everything was going to be okay, but the further reassurance was still welcome. "Have you guys been on a dive?" she asked, although the answer was obvious given the two set of scuba gear and two wetsuits that were on the deck.

"Yeah," Tessa said. "I hope you don't mind me taking the boat out? Deonna called me the other day, after you gave her my number, and we made our introductions. She wanted to try diving, so I took her for a shallow trial dive. Sami came with us. He was hanging around to meet you but he had to take off a few minutes ago as he had to be somewhere."

That was fair enough, Grace thought. After all, they were late. She didn't mind about the boat being taken out either. If Deonna wanted to try diving to help improve her knowledge of the business she was soon to be in, that showed admirable commitment on her part. "I don't mind. What did you think of it?" she asked Deonna.

"It was a lot different to what I expected. I was afraid, going into it. I've never been all that confident in water, and I didn't think I'd cope well with all the gear. I imagined my mask leaking, or finding myself not able to breathe properly. But no, it was fine. Actually, I enjoyed it. I would go again," Deonna finished with a smile.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Grace said warmly. "And I'm pleased to learn you wanted to try a dive ahead of starting work for us."

"I felt like I ought to have at least a tiny bit of experience. I've been doing a lot of reading about it too. I know you've got Darren and Chelsea coming in with knowledge, and they'll teach myself and Trevor what they know. How is his move going by the way?"

"He's looking for a place to rent, hoping to get something sorted as soon as he can. I don't know if he'll be down here in time for our opening day as yet, but he's doing his best."

Roman walked over and sat down next to Tessa. Her side of the boat was in the sun, whereas Deonna's side was in shade cast by the boat's structure. As he sat down, his eye was caught by something. "That's quite a bruise on your arm."

Grace hadn't noticed it before. Now that it had been pointed out, she could see a black, purple and yellow area on Tessa's upper left arm.

"Yeah, I walked into a door," she said, looking at Roman. "You'll soon learn I'm quite clumsy. Not in my work, I mean," she added quickly, turning to Grace. "I'm talking about things like bumping into stuff or dropping my phone."

"Right," Grace said in an understanding tone. There was something that seemed off to her about the exchange. Not intending to make a scene, she filed it away for later discussion with Roman.

Deonna had sat back down near to where Grace was standing. She also seemed to have picked up on the awkwardness of the previous question and answer. For the sake of making conversation, she focused on the large plastic bag that Grace was holding. "What do you have there? Is it a video camera?"

"It is," Grace said. Sitting down next to Deonna, she took the video camera box out of the bag and put in on her lap. "Once the business is open, I'm going to be having my colleagues from WWE come down here from time to time. I'm going to be making videos for a YouTube channel in which the guest and myself go on a dive, and I conduct an interview with them on the boat either before or after. Tessa, how do you like the idea of being my camerawoman?"

"Sure, I can do that," she smiled. "I think it's a good way to promote the business, too. You could have some kind of intro made that would run at the start of each video. It would have the title of the show, Miami Diving Adventures' logo, website address, physical address, stuff like that."

"Very good idea," Roman said with a nod of approval. "We should definitely have someone put that together for us."

"Definitely," Grace said, happy to have collected another good idea to help her business.

"I'm assuming most of your colleagues won't be experienced divers?" Tessa said.

Grace nodded. "I think that's safe to assume. It's fine, though. We'll only be doing a test dive like you and Deonna did today; just enough to let them try it out and get some footage of me and them underwater together. Again, you could be the camerawoman. The first episode is going to be a big one. I've managed to get the owner of WWE, Lucy Thorne."

"I don't know who that is, but she's clearly a big deal. How did you talk her into it?" Tessa asked.

"Her doing an interview with me fits with an ongoing storyline in WWE. Free diving lessons also helped."

Everyone on the boat laughed at that. "You've just qualified as an instructor, right?" Tessa asked. "Quite a client to have for your first one."

"Shit, I hadn't thought of that," Grace said, taking in the prospect. The very first people she was going to teach to dive were going to be her boss and her boss's partner.

"You'll do great. I saw how well you taught Layla to snorkel," Roman said, his love for both Grace and Layla was clear in his voice. "Layla is my daughter. She's ten," he explained to the other two women.

"Yeah, I met her last time we saw each other," Tessa reminded him with a smile.

"Of course," Roman recalled as soon as she had said it.

"Are you going to be teaching her to dive?" Deonna asked Grace.

"Possibly. It's something that we're thinking about," Grace said carefully. The truth was that Roman was going to speak to Andrea about it at some point. They were not sure what response he might get. Grace hoped for a positive one, but she wasn't overly confident about it.

The group of four spent more than an hour chatting, going into detail about preparations for the opening of Miami Diving Adventures. Eventually, Roman said that he felt like he was starving, and wanted to go find a restaurant to get something eat before he and Grace headed back to Orlando.

Saying their goodbyes, the four went their separate ways to their cars. Grace felt pleased with her first face to face encounter with Deonna Purrazzo. She came across as a dedicated person, a passionate person, and nice person. Her resume also attested to her being a good manager of people.

"I think that went well," Grace said once they were back in Roman's Ford GT.

"Yeah, Deonna made a good impression," Roman said as he carefully pulled out of the parking space. "We got the camera sorted out, and we saw progress being made on the shop. You know what troubled me, though?"

"I think I do," Grace grimaced. "Tessa?"

"Yes," Roman said with a sigh. "I was watching her carefully when I asked her about that bruise on her arm. It looked to me like the kind of bruise that gets left when someone grabs you. She also had that limp the first time we met her. I have a nasty feeling someone is knocking her around."

"I thought that too," Grace said, feeling angry and frustrated. "What can we do about it?"

Roman glanced at her and shook his head. "Nothing," he said unhappily. "If we're right, which we don't know, it would be up to Tessa to reach out to someone for help."

"What if I said something to her?"

"More than likely she would deny it and get angry with you. It's something to keep an eye on, though. If you ever see another mark on her, tell me."

"I will," Grace promised. Retreating into her thoughts, she imagined what she would like to do to whoever it was who was possibly beating Tessa.


	36. Chapter 36

Having Layla come over to stay the night was something that Grace genuinely looked forward to. Over the months that she had been in the relationship with Roman, she had formed something of a stepmotherly bond with Layla, who was undoubtedly a great kid. She was well-mannered, fun to be around, and clearly idolised her dad. It warmed Grace's heart every time she saw them together. What meant the most to her was that Layla enjoyed seeing her, too.

When she heard the front door open, Grace walked out of the living room, already smiling before she saw Roman or Layla, who had walked in first with her Pokémon rucksack on. "Grace!" she shouted in excitement, running down the hallway.

"Layla!" Grace cried, crouching down in time for the child to run into her arms at full speed, almost bowling her over. "Oof," Grace grunted with good humour as she took the impact.

"I missed you," Layla said.

That was probably the nicest thing Grace could have heard. Looking over Layla's shoulder, she saw Roman smiling as he closed the front door. "I missed you too, Lay. That's why I bought your favourite cookies."

"The white chocolate ones?" Layla asked as they parted.

"The white chocolate ones," Grace confirmed. "They're in the kitchen."

Nothing more needed to be said to send Layla hurrying back up the hallway.

"Lay, take your backpack and your coat off first," Roman said.

Layla did as she had been asked, handing both items to Roman. He hung her coat up in the closet, holding onto her bag for her to take upstairs when she'd had a cookie. To that end, Layla was already in the kitchen.

"Hey," Grace said, stepping up to Roman and giving him a kiss.

"Hey," he replied. The second kiss lingered, and his hand came to her cheek affectionately.

"It makes me so happy that Lay gets excited to see me," Grace said quietly, for his ears only.

"It's adorable," he replied at a similar volume.

Layla came out of the kitchen with a half eaten cookie in her hand. The other half was in her mouth, being chewed.

Roman held out the rucksack. "Take this up to your room, please."

"Okay," Layla said through her mouthful of cookie. She took the rucksack and scampered up the stairs.

Roman waited until she was out of earshot before speaking. "So, Lay told Andrea that she learned to snorkel with you, and she wants diving lessons."

Grace grimaced slightly. They had planned on that coming from Roman, not Layla. "I assume Andrea spoke to you about it?"

"Yeah. She wasn't exactly pleased that she heard it from Layla, not from me, but I was able to convince her that I had planned to talk to her about it today. I said I didn't know Lay was going to say anything to her."

Upstairs, they heard Layla's footsteps heading for the bathroom.

"What did Andrea say?" Grace asked. "I mean, is she okay with Layla learning to dive?"

"She wasn't sure at first. She didn't know if ten was old enough. I told her that you're a qualified instructor and you said ten was old enough. I said the experienced instructor we've hired for our business has also taught ten year olds in the past."

"How did that go over?"

"She accepted that Lay's old enough. What she was less sure about was having you teach her."

The toilet flushed upstairs, signalling that Layla would soon be coming back down. Grace delayed responding, not wanting Layla to hear what was being talked about. She signalled to Roman with her eyes to join her in the kitchen in a moment, and walked through there.

As Grace sat down at the kitchen island, she heard Layla charging down the stairs.

"You can put your cartoons on, sweet pea," Roman said cheerfully. "I'll come and watch with you in a minute."

"Okay. Can we watch Raw, too?"

"You haven't seen this week's Raw yet?"

"I have. I want to watch it again."

Grace smiled to herself. Layla loved to watch her dad in action. Maybe she enjoyed watching Grace, too.

"Okay, we'll watch it in a bit," Roman was saying. "I've got to help Grace in the kitchen first, so you go watch your cartoons for a bit."

"Alright."

Grace heard Layla running for the living room. Roman walked into the kitchen and sat down at the island, opposite her. "So," he resumed. "Andrea said she wasn't sure about you teaching Lay to dive. She said she would have to meet you first."

"Oh," Grace breathed. Obviously she had known the time would come for her to meet Roman's ex-wife. Nonetheless, she couldn't look forward to what would almost certainly be an awkward encounter.

"She also chose that moment to let me know that she's seeing someone," Roman added.

"Oh," Grace said again, surprised this time. "Uh, how do you feel about that?"

Roman took a moment to answer. "We're divorced. I've moved on, with you. I've never been happier than I am with you. I would have absolutely no right to expect her not to do the same. But to be totally honest? It does feel a weird. Andrea and I were married for a long time. She's the mother of my daughter. The thought of her with someone else is, well, weird to me. I hope that doesn't offend you? I'm just trying to be honest," Roman said with an awkward, glum expression on his face.

Grace reached across the table and took his hand. "I understand. I'm not stupid enough to think you can just switch off everything you ever felt for Andrea. I've never been married or divorced, but I have been in relationships. It hurts when they end. You and Andrea ended things amicably because it wasn't working, not because either of you are bad people. She comes across to me like a parent trying to make the best of what happened and minimise the effect on her daughter, just the way you are. Bottom line? No, I'm not offended. I get why you feel the way you do. I get why Andrea probably doesn't like it all that much that you've moved on with me. All of us are in this less than ideal situation. Life is full of less than ideal situations. What matters to me is that I love you, and we're happy together."

Roman squeezed her hand. "I love you too. I'm a very lucky guy." He sounded quite emotional.

"Shush," Grace laughed softly. "We're both lucky to have each other. So, when am I going to meet Andrea?"

"I didn't get into that with her. It wasn't my place to commit to it before we had this talk. If you're willing to meet her, which it seems like you are, I'll talk to her about it when I drop Layla off tomorrow."

"Alright, that sounds like a plan."

Layla walked into the kitchen at that moment. "Can I have some juice, please?" she asked.

"Sure you can," Grace said, getting up and going over to the refrigerator. She now had the prospect of meeting Andrea to look forward to, not that she was looking forward to it. It would be awkward for both of them, and to add a further complication to the mix, she had to persuade Andrea that she should be allowed to teach her daughter to scuba dive. That was going to be quite a task.

* * *

In the run up to Wrestlemania, the hatred and anger from the fans towards Grace Stone was getting stronger by the week. With each Raw episode, and each win she picked up, the fan's fears that she was going to beat Sasha Banks for the Raw Women's Championship at the biggest even of the year grew stronger.

Grace didn't know whether that was going to happen or not; Lucy Thorne hadn't told her or Sasha one way or another. She had spoken to Sasha, and they had both expressed their determination that no matter the outcome they were given, they were going to make their match one of the highlights of the night.

Wrestlemania was now only a couple of weeks away. Things were about to get seriously busy for Grace and Roman. Not only was the craziest week of WWE's year almost at hand, the grand opening of Miami Diving Adventures was only five days away, set for the coming Saturday.

While the company's two owners had been flying out to Raw, they knew that Deonna Purrazzo, Chelsea Green and Darren Young had been at the shop, taking the first deliveries of stock. Trevor Campbell's move was in the works, but he wasn't going to be in Miami in time for the opening day. Grace had assured him that was fine, since she had known they were up against it in terms of time.

Elena and Bayley had arranged to meet Grace, Roman, Seth and Zelina at the airport when they landed. A short airport bus ride took them to the parking lot that was used for buses. It didn't take them long to find where Elena had parked their home on wheels.

Approaching the bus, Seth took out his phone and called Bayley. His call was quickly answered. "Bay, we're outside the bus," was all he said.

By the time they reached the bus, Elena was stepping out of the door to greet them. "Hi, guys," she said using a cheery tone that was not exactly common for her.

Greetings were exchanged all round, then Seth said, "You're chirpy today, Daga. Did we interrupt you and Bayley at it?"

"Seth!" Zelina scolded playfully.

"If we were 'at it' the door wouldn't be open, and I would be chirpy after an interruption," Elena promised him.

"Spoilsport," Roman said, making a joke of inferring that he wouldn't mind watching the two of them having sex.

Grace simply rolled her eyes and shook her head. Being around Seth brought that side out of Roman. She could only imagine the kind of things that those two must have gotten up to back when Dean Ambrose was also with them – a terrible trio if ever there was one.

Leaving Roman to help Elena load the cases into the luggage hold, Grace proceeded up the steps onto the bus.

"Hi," Bayley said in her usual friendly manner, sitting on her couch as always.

"Hey," Grace said, looking at her friend with the intention of greeting her further with a smile. Instead, she screamed in surprise at what she saw.

"You okay?" Roman called.

"Bayley cut her hair!" Grace reported, making it sound like someone had scrawled graffiti on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.

"What do you think?" Bayley asked, spreading her arms to show off her new look. The new bob hairstyle seemed to completely change her appearance. Cute and huggable were no longer appropriate descriptions. Sexy and badass were now more accurate words to use, in Grace's opinion.

"I think you look incredible! What brought this change on?"

"Lucy Thorne. She told me to get a haircut for when I come back. I'm going to return at Wrestlemania with a new look and a new attitude, and I'm going to be winning the women's battle royal. I'm skipping Axxess, I'm skipping the Hall of Fame, and I'm wearing a hoodie with the hood up everywhere I go. No one can see my new look in case they figure out that a full-on heel Bayley is coming at last."

Bayley had been kept off TV since Fastlane, where she had last been seen crying and throwing a fit of rage after a loss. Picturing the shocking return, Grace imagined fans would be blown away by the all new Bayley. "And what does Daga think?"

Elena's voice came from outside the bus, having heard the question. "I've fallen in love again."

Grace laughed, delighted that her friends were as happy in their relationship as she was in hers.


	37. Chapter 37

The timing was not exactly ideal. When Grace and Roman had gotten serious about starting Miami Diving Adventures at the start of the year, there had been no way to predict that the business's grand opening would fall right before the most frantic week of WWE's year. It was lucky that they were both people who liked to be busy.

"I can't wait to see how it looks," Grace said as Roman parked his Ford GT in a spot not too far down the street from Miami Diving Adventures. She could see a sign outside on the sidewalk with 'Opening today' printed on it in the same font used for the company's branding. A bunch of red and black balloons were attached to it. Grace wasn't sure that balloons were exactly her style, but she had given Deonna Purrazzo some creative freedom. After all, she was the manager. The last thing Grace wanted to do was alienate her by micromanaging everything she did.

Purposefully, Grace had asked Deonna not to send her any pictures of the finished, stocked shop. She wanted the maximum effect from her first impression when she looked through the windows and walked through the door.

Roman yawned as he killed the engine. It was just after 7am, and they had just finished a three hour drive down from Orlando. A couple of stops for coffee had helped them to fight off the tiredness from the early start. For Grace, adrenaline was also playing a part. This was a moment she had dreamed of for years: owning her own dive shop and boat. Thanks to Roman, it was coming true.

"We should have a coffee machine installed in the shop," Roman said, grinning tiredly at Grace before they got out of the car.

"There's a Starbucks just up the street," she pointed out, chuckling.

"So there is. I'll be heading up there before long. But first, let's go see our shop. Excited?" he asked, looking at her.

"Hell yeah!" Grace smiled. "You?"

"Yeah. Mainly, though, I'm delighted for you. I know what this means to you."

"Thank you for helping it come true for me. I love you." Grace leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

"I love you too, babe."

With that, they got out of the car and walked hand in hand up the street to their shop. It was their first visit since the renovation work had been finished, meaning that they hadn't seen the completed interior in person. The shop fitting company had sent pictures to Grace, but they of course had not shown the shop with any stock in it. There also had not been a picture from outside.

The first thing Grace did when they approached the shop was step into the road to get a better look at the frontage, and the brand new sign that ran the full length of the shop. The main body of the sign was light grey. It displayed the company's logo - the name in large red lettering with the red scuba diver wearing black gear including the long fins that formed an underscore below the name. In the bottom left corner of the sign, in smaller red lettering, was the website address. At the right end of the sign, there was a list of services that were offered: Sales, rental, repair, instruction, charters.

"The sign looks fantastic," Grace said, delighted.

"It does," Roman agreed. Standing next to her, he put an arm around her waist. She reciprocated the gesture as their attention turned to the window displays. On the left side of the entrance, there was a picture display to advertise the scuba diving courses and charters that were on offer. A picture of Graceful Adventure was included, as was a picture of Tessa Blanchard dressed in a black wetsuit. The display's text described the courses she was capable of teaching, and hyped up the facilities of Graceful Adventure and the experience that would be offered during charters. There was also a large sticker across part of the window advertising twenty per-cent off all courses and charters booked during Miami Diving Adventures' first week of trading. The idea behind that was to hopefully make a good start with filling up Tessa's bookings. There was no point paying her and Sami Callihan to sit on the boat doing nothing.

"Look at that display!" Grace exclaimed, pointing. "It looks really professional. Not that I didn't think it would."

"I know what you mean. It looks classy. If I was interested in a course or a charter, it would entice me inside."

In the window on the other side of the entrance, there were two displays. One showed off Cressi products, the other products from ScubaPro. Both displays had the relevant company's logo, along with confirmation that Miami Diving Adventures was an authorised dealer of their wares.

"I love that display, too," Roman said. "It shows that we stock the best products on the market."

"Yeah. People will know that we're not into the kind of junk they had in that place we went into with Layla the other week," Grace said.

Deonna Purrazzo appeared at the shop's door, unlocking it. She was wearing black pants and one of the company issue light grey polo shirts with the Miami Diving Adventures logo embroidered on the left breast. They hadn't been cheap, but they did look good.

"There's Deonna. She must have seen us out here," Grace said, walking towards the door. Roman wasn't far behind her.

"Hi, guys!" Deonna said, smiling broadly. "Welcome to Miami Diving Adventures!"

"Thank you!" Grace beamed. "I must say, it looks fantastic from the outside. You've done a great job with the displays."

"Chelsea helped me with them. She's very creative."

Grace had picked out Chelsea Green and Darren Young from the applicants who had sent in resumes, but she had never met them. They had been interviewed by Deonna, who had already been in place as manager by then. "I'm looking forward to meeting her, and Darren. Trevor is hoping to have his move completed within a couple of weeks. He and his son have viewed a few places, and have found one they want to rent."

"Yes, he keeps me updated," Deonna smiled. "He seems like a really good guy. He's very apologetic about not being here yet, even though I keep telling him it's okay. I understand his circumstances."

"That's Trevor," Grace said with a smile of her own. "I'm glad he's been keeping in contact with you as well as me."

The door that led to the toilets, staffroom and storeroom opened. Tessa Blanchard walked into the shop, followed by Darren Young and Chelsea Green. They were all wearing the company polo shirts.

"Here are the troops," Deonna said, moving over to one side to handle the introductions. "Grace, Roman, meet Chelsea and Darren. You know Tessa, of course."

Grace stepped forward, greeting Chelsea with a handshake as Roman shook hands with Darren. "Good to meet you, Chelsea. I hear you had a lot of input in the window displays. They're excellent. Really great work."

"Aww, thank you!" Chelsea beamed. "I'm glad you like them, and it's awesome to meet you at last."

Chelsea and Darren switched positions, and more greetings were exchanged.

"Darren, good to meet you," Grace smiled, shaking his hand.

"Good to meet you," he replied with a slightly shy-looking smile. "I've just finished setting up the workshop, if you'd like to have a look?"

"Sure, let's do it," Grace said openly. She would have asked Roman to join her, if it wasn't for the fact that he was already walking over towards the windows with Chelsea.

"It's a good setup," Darren said as he led the way across the store. Grace briefly looked at some of the displays that she passed by. Closest to the workshop was the area assigned to the scuba equipment that was available for customers to rent. She stopped for a moment to look at a display that had children's Cressi wetsuits and fins hanging on it. It was all excellent quality, not that she was surprised by that. It also reminded her of Layla's prospective scuba lessons that would soon be discussed with Andrea when they met.

Grace proceeded over to the workshop, where she did her best to look like she knew what she was looking at while Darren talked her through everything. What she did notice and understand was the passion in his voice, giving her the clear impression that the workshop was going to become his domain. A staff member taking that kind of pride in their work was a very good thing.

After thanking Darren for his introduction to the workshop, Grace started walking around the rest of the shop, looking at the displays. Under Deonna's supervision, the staff had done an excellent job of setting everything out.

There was a small display in the Cressi area of women's section of the store that featured a new range of scuba masks. Grave stopped and picked one up, thinking that it looked better than the one she currently had for her personal use. Wondering if it would be appropriate for her to be her own first customer made her smile.

"There's some really good stuff here, isn't there?" Tessa asked, appearing beside her.

"Oh, hi, Tessa," Grace said pleasantly, noticing as she glanced at her employee that were no signs of bruises anywhere on her exposed, muscular arms. It made her feel a little silly for the concerns that she and Roman had shared. "Yes, there is. I might get myself one of these masks at some point."

"Considering the quality, they're reasonably priced," Tessa said. She picked one of the masks up and looked it over.

"Hey, Tessa, a question for you," Grace said as it came to mind. "You know Layla, Roman's daughter, right? Well, she wants scuba lessons, and wants me to teach her. The problem being that I have to convince her mom it's safe, and that I'll make a good job of teaching her. Any ideas for things I might be able to say to strengthen my argument?"

Tessa thought for a few moments, fiddling with the strap of the mask she was holding. "Not really," she admitted eventually. "I mean, not stuff that you won't already have thought of. The only thing I have is maybe consider inviting her to come along? I don't know if you guys get on, but if you do, have her sit poolside or something when you start Layla's course?"

Grace didn't know if that was going to work or not, since she hadn't even met Andrea yet. It was worthy of consideration at least. "You might be onto something there, Tessa. I'll put some thought into it."

The conversation was interrupted by Grace's phone ringing. It was pretty early on a Saturday morning for someone to be calling, so she took the phone of her pocket with a slightly surprised look on her face. The surprise intensified when she saw Lucy Thorne's name on the screen. "Excuse me," she said to Tessa, stepping away from her.

"Hello?" Grace said, answering the call. She let her surprise show slightly.

"Morning, Grace. Sorry to call you on your opening day, I know you'll be busy. I won't keep you long."

Grace smiled. Workaholic Lucy seemed oblivious to the early hour. She had however remembered that Miami Diving Adventures was due to open. "Thanks, Lucy. I'm at the shop right now. We'll be opening in little over an hour. It looks so great, I can't even tell you."

"I'm genuinely pleased for you. I look forward to seeing your setup when Bobby and I visit. Now, the reason I called you is we're working on Wrestlemania. I've made a decision on your match with Sasha. You're going to be going over for the title. I feel like putting it on you is the only way to fully follow through on this whole fan hatred deal."

'Oh shit!' Grace screamed internally. She was going to be the Raw Women's Champion, and she was going to win it at Wrestlemania. The fans were going to go ballistic. It would be fantastic.

"Hello?" Lucy asked.

Grace realised that she hadn't responded. "Sorry, I'm here," she said quickly. "I don't know what to say. Uh, this is awesome! I honestly can't wait! The fans are going to go nuclear at me."

"Indeed they are. That's why I wanted to call you and let you know. Start preparing yourself mentally, because you're a matter of days away from being one of the most hated people in wrestling history."

"I'm looking forward to it," Grace laughed.


	38. Chapter 38

Friday night of Wrestlemania week meant attending the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony for everyone on the active roster apart from those who had been assigned to the Axxess session taking place at the same time.

Grace's signing had been at the Friday afternoon session, whereas Roman's was going to be on Saturday afternoon, leaving them both free and obligated to attend the Hall of Fame.

It hadn't been Grace's first Axxess session; she had done several as a member of the NXT roster. It had, however, been her first Axxess session as a relatively big name in WWE, and her first as a VIP, meaning that fans had to pay extra for a ticket to meet her. She had half expected no one to show up in her line, given the reactions she got at every event she worked. The opposite had turned out to be true, as her tickets had sold out. Everyone who she had met had been polite, too. It went to show that at least to some extent people separated the real Grace Stone from the character Grace Stone.

With her signing out of the way, Grace's attention had turned to the Hall of Fame ceremony. Her hair and makeup had needed to be done, and she had needed to put on the expensive teal coloured sleeveless dress that she had bought for the occasion. It showed off some cleavage and some leg, in a tasteful manner.

For his part, Roman had put his hair up in a tidy bun, and was wearing a dark blue suit, with a light blue suit and a gold tie. "Okay, I think I'm set," he said, using a mirror to help him straighten his tie. He turned to look at Grace, who was standing at the other end of their hotel room. "How do I look?"

"Honestly? You look like a mob boss or something," she said, walking over to him. "It's seriously hot, Mr Reigns."

"A mob boss, huh?" he laughed. "Then I guess you look like a mob boss's girlfriend. You look ravishing."

"Ravishing," she echoed, nestling against him as his arms went around her. "I'll take ravishing. Perhaps I ought to be ravished when we get back here later."

"If you want to be ravished, I'll ravish you."

"I'll hold you to that promise," Grace said, annoyed that there wasn't an opportunity for sex now. Unfortunately, they had to get down to the hotel's lobby because WWE were laying on cars to transport people from the hotel to the arena where the ceremony was going to take place.

"You do that," Roman said, pecking her on the lips. "We'd better move, babe. We've avoided being the first people to arrive, but I don't want to be late."

"Okay, lead the way, Mr Reigns."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the car carrying Roman and Grace was pulling up at the drop off point near to the entrance that was being used by all WWE guests.

Once they were out of the car and heading inside, Grace took Roman's hand.

"Time to grace the red carpet," he said, giving her a sideways glance as he was rewarded with the wince that he had hoped for.

"I thought we had established a rule about grace puns?" she said with mock sternness.

"Sorry, I just had to grace you with that one."

They were both laughing as they walked through the door into the building. They were ushered down a hallway, taking them straight into the arena, where the red carpet would be waiting for them, as would Cathy Kelly, wanting to do a quick interview.

Just before walking into the arena, Grace shifted the way she walking, linking her arm with Roman's. It felt appropriate for the occasion.

The areas of the arena available to fans were about half full, Grace saw, looking around as they started their red carpet walk. A cameraman was right in front of them, capturing them for the WWE Network red carpet show. Some boos were noticeable when fans started to recognise her.

At the far end of the red carpet, Cathy was finishing up an interview with The Miz and Maryse. Her attention shifted to Roman and Grace as they approached.

"Roman Reigns! Grace Stone! I must say you guys look fantastic tonight."

"Thanks, Cathy, you too," Roman said politely.

"Thank you! Ahead of tonight's ceremony, which induction stands out for you?" Cathy asked, addressing the question to Roman first.

"It's got to be the headliner," Roman said. "No one deserves to be taking his place in the Hall of Fame more than The Undertaker. A legendary competitor, a brilliant opponent to wrestle, and a true leader in the locker room. Maximum respect."

"And you, Grace?" Cathy asked.

"Of course I agree with what Roman said about The Undertaker. For me, though, Melina stands out. A ground breaker, an innovator, someone I would have loved to wrestle if I could have had the chance."

"Thanks, guys. Have a good night," Cathy said.

Grace and Roman walked off, still arm in arm. It was time to look for their seats. Everyone attending had an assigned seat, as indicated by laminated sheets of paper with names on that had been placed on each chair. To further help people out, there were a couple of ushers on hand to give directions.

"Front row, guys, just along from Ms Thorne," they were told.

Front row, we are privileged, Grace thought. She supposed it helped that she was dating the face of WWE. Roman being such a big deal was a continual source of pride for her.

Looking in the direction that the usher had motioned in, she saw that Lucy Thorne and Bobby Roode had already arrived. They were standing up, greeting people as they arrived. Bobby had a smart black suit and a white shirt on, whereas Lucy had gone for one of the vintage looks that she liked for big events. She had on a 1950's style dark green dress and black leather gloves that finished above the elbow. Her hair was styled in what Grace knew were called victory rolls. Her appearance was striking, in a good way.

"Good evening," Lucy smiled when they drew near, offering her hand to Roman first. Grace had to stop herself laughing when he seemed unsure if he should shake it or kiss it. She doubted Lucy went for hand kissing.

"Good evening," Roman said, settling on the handshake.

"You're seated just here, next to Stephanie and Hunter," Lucy said, gesturing to their seats. Next, her hand was offered to Grace. "Here's Ms. Popular," she said with a smile. "Good to see you, Grace."

"Great to see you. I've had some boos already," Grace grinned.

"That's good. It's a funny old world, isn't it?" Lucy said after a moment of reflection.

"Being hated by people who've never met me? Yeah, it's a funny world alright," Grace said, giving a single laugh.

They exchanged greetings and handshakes with Bobby, then took their seats. Grace saw that she was seated in between Roman and Seth. If nothing else, there would be a few laughs to pass the long night of speeches that would be a lot longer than they needed to be.

"I like Lucy's look," Roman muttered, making sure the boss didn't hear him.

"Oh, do you now?" Grace replied at the same volume.

"Yeah. It's hot. Next time we go to an event, you should try it."

"Oh, you'd like that would you?"

"I'll wear an older style suit and play the mob boss, you dress like that and play the mistress."

"Roleplay, huh? Maybe I'll see what I can do," Grace said, putting a slightly sultry air in her voice. "Imagine if people knew we were having this conversation."

"Babe, I think they know we sleep with each other," Roman said, chuckling away.

Grace rolled her eyes. "I'm sure they do. I'm not so sure they expect us to talk about it at the Hall of Fame."

Almost an hour went by before the Hall of Fame show finally got underway. Roman and Grace had killed the time in conversation with Seth and Zelina, and with Hunter and Stephanie.

To warm the fans up for the show, a promo package for Wrestlemania was played on the screen. It was showing a few seconds of a competitor from a certain match on the card, followed by a few seconds of their opponent. Grace heard the fans cheering when some of their favourites appeared on the screen. It made her look forward to the reaction when her turn came.

Suddenly, a close up of Grace's face appeared. The arena literally erupted into boos. As ever it was music to her ears. If that was the reaction she got before Wrestlemania because people feared she was going to beat Sasha Banks, how much worse would it get after she had actually done so? At that point her character would likely be irredeemable forever in the eyes of the fans. Grace was fine with that. Wait and see what's coming in two days, she thought, allowing herself a smile.

The section of the promo covering Grace and Sasha finished with the scene that had ended their final segment on Raw – Sasha standing over a fallen Grace, holding up the Raw Women's Championship. The fans cheered, even though Sasha was supposed to be the heel in the rivalry. For some fans, Sasha standing tall on the go home show was a bad omen, potentially signalling an upcoming win for Grace.

"I think that's the outcome they want," Roman muttered to her.

"Sucks to be them then, doesn't it? You know, it's a shame I can't be a heel with this heat."

"If you turned heel now, most of this heat would go away. They boo you because they think Lucy is desperate for you to be cheered. They think they're rebelling and giving the opposite reaction to what is expected of them. Little do they know. No, babe, you don't want to be a heel at all. The more babyface you act, the better. Keep on, and lap up the boos like nectar."

Grace nodded, thankful for the reminder to stay on message. "You're right. Sunday night, I'm going to be the happiest champion in the world."

"Perfect," Roman laughed.


	39. Chapter 39

Backstage, only a couple of hours before the Wrestlemania pre-show went live, Grace felt nervous and excited, pretty much in equal measure. It was the first Wrestlemania she was going to perform on, and she was competing in one of the biggest matches on the card. Lucy Thorne was putting a lot of pressure on her. Luckily, Grace had long been of the opinion that she gave her best performances when she was under pressure.

To work out the details for that night's match, Grace and Sasha had been summoned to one of the numerous backstage offices to meet with TJ Wilson, who was going to be their agent.

"Right, ladies, let's make a start," TJ said after taking a hit from the cup of coffee he had brought into the office. "Lucy has given us a finish. She wants a tap out to the Set in Stone."

That came as a surprise to no one. Since Grace was allegedly meant to be a babyface, her wins had to be clean.

Grace and Sasha began to lay out the match. They got approval on part of it involving the referee going down after inadvertently being hit by Sasha. The absence of an official would provide an extended opening for some weapons to be used. Sasha said she wanted to use a kendo stick on Grace.

"Sure," Grace said without pause, already thinking about the painful welts that would bother her for at least a few days. This was Wrestlemania, though. A few painful spots were worth it to potentially put on one of the matches of the night.

"How about you? Anything you want to do?" Sasha asked.

Grace thought about it for a second, happy that Sasha wasn't being awkward. She had heard rumours to that effect, particularly when Sasha had to put someone over clean. Personally, however, Grace had always gotten along with her okay, and found her to be professional. An idea came to mind.

"I'd like to do a spear from commentary table to commentary table. Roman has done it before, which I think might annoy the fans. 'Oh, now she's using Roman's moves,' you know?"

"Yeah, that's good," TJ said. "Sasha?"

"So you're going to run across one table, jump at me and spear me while I'm on another table, and I go through the table?"

Grace nodded. "That's right."

"Alright, I'll go for that. That can be when the ref gets back up, and we both have to beat a ten count to make it back in the ring."

"I like that," TJ said.

The three of them proceeded to put together what would be the last few minutes of the match from that point. The first half of the match was left to be called in the ring, not a problem at all for two people with as much experience as Sasha and Grace.

"Alright, I think we're done. You guys are going to shine tonight, I feel it," TJ said with conviction once the meeting was effectively over.

Grace flashed him one of her trademark striking smiles. "Thanks. We're sure going to give it our best."

* * *

With the plans for her match in place, her ring attire on, and her hair and makeup done, Grace had nothing to do but watch the show until the time came for her match with Sasha. They were fifth on the card, so it was going to be a while. At least there was a large TV on the wall in the women's locker room for them all to enjoy the action.

For the first time, the women's battle royal was on the main card of a Wrestlemania event, as opposed to being on the pre-show. It was to be the opening match of the event. Grace was pleased because the match was the setting for Bayley's new character reveal and heel turn. It would have been wasted on the pre-show.

To begin the battle royal segment, a large group of women walked to the ring together. Grace spotted Zelina among them. There would only be separate entrances for two or three people.

Before long, it was time for Bayley's entrance. Grace felt like she was on the edge of her seat when the hugger's familiar music hit. There were a few cheers, but in honesty the reaction was lame. Grace hoped that would change momentarily.

Bayley went through her usual routine as she emerged onto the stage, culminating with raising her hands into the air. The brightly coloured tube men inflated behind her. So far, the only thing out of the ordinary was that she had a hooded jacket on, with the hood up.

Abruptly, the cheerful expression left her face, being replaced with something more akin to a glare as she looked down towards the ring. Slowly, she raised her right hand and removed the hood, revealing her new hairstyle.

Grace heard some disappointed or shocked groans from the fans. It made her smile. "Go on, Bay," she said under her breath, loving the moment for her good friend.

Bayley's attention turned to the tube men. She retrieved half of a broken kendo stick from behind one of them. The end of the stick had some kind of metal blade driven through it. To the horror of the fans, she set about using the improvised weapon to slice open and murder the tube men. With that task completed, her attention and glare returned to the crowded ring.

"That's fucking badass," Lita commented.

"She looks amazing," Trish Stratus agreed. They were the hosts of this particular Wrestlemania. They had stopped in the middle of changing dresses to watch Bayley's powerful entrance.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, Bayley was able to haul Becky Lynch over the top rope for the battle royal's final elimination. Bayley was now guaranteed a future title opportunity. A cowardly rake to the eyes had helped her to get the upper hand in the final battle. It was undoubtedly a heel way to win, and Becky being the final elimination served to piss off the fans even further.

The hugger's music began to play again, despite not fitting with the way she had acted at all. Rather than celebrating, Bayley went over to the corner of the ring closest to the timekeeper's area and demanded a microphone. When she received it, she walked to the middle of the ring.

"Hey, bitches," she said in an emphatic, condescending tone. She looked around the huge stadium before delivering her killer statement. "Screw all of you!"

"Yes!" Grace cried, among the cheers from the other women who were in the room with her. Everyone loved this change of direction for Bayley, apart from the fans, who were booing her more strongly now than they had for her victory.

"This new character is going to be fire," Grace said to Zelina, who by now was back at her locker.

"It's a shame we're not heel. We would have made a hell of a trio."

* * *

The video package for the Banks – Stone match was playing in the stadium. Grace stood behind the curtain alone, something that she no longer felt used to. It was the only time she could remember it happening since The Stone Roses had formed. Tonight, she was on her own, on the biggest stage, about to be savaged by the fans. Bring it on, she thought, only getting more fired up by it.

When the video package ended, Grace took in a deep breath. This was it. Any second now, her music was going to drop.

The music began to play. Over eighty thousand people simultaneously booed as loudly as they could, creating a wall of hostile noise that Grace could literally feel as she walked out onto the stage. Over the years, she had worked heel for various companies. Never had she played a character that had been hated anything like as much as this one. It was remarkable.

None of what Grace was thinking showed on her face as she smiled broadly, using both hands to make a heart pose as she looked into a camera.

Boos continued the entire time as she went through her entrance routine. It was impossible not to look out at the enormous sea of people, even if they were all angry with her.

Limbering up to keep her body warm, Grace moved over to what would be her corner for the purpose of the ring announcements. Lillian Garcia had been invited back to guest announce for this contest only.

Grace's music faded out. The crowd saw it as their cue for more booing.

"Girl, they really hate you," Lillian commented, surprise clear in her tone.

"I've not even started pissing them off yet," Grace said, smiling.

At that moment, Sasha's music hit. It was greeted with cheers, for the simple reason that people wanted her to win the match, leaving Grace out of the title picture.

Grace kept herself focused on what was to come while Sasha went through her entrance. In her opinion, the fact that the audience were guaranteed to shit on the result did not mean that the match could not be memorable as a hard fought contest. Sasha was no stranger to working stiff, and Grace intended to give as good as she got.

Finished with her entrance, Sasha walked over to the corner opposite Grace. It was time for Lillian Garcia to step forward.

"This contest is set for one fall, and it is for the Raw Women's Championship! Introducing first, the challenger, representing The Stone Roses, from Brooklyn, New York, Grace Stone!"

Grace walked to the centre of the ring as more boos rained down on her. She gave her signature heart pose for the second time.

The boos abruptly turned to a roar of approval when Sasha ran forward and smashed both fists into Grace's back, knocking her down. Waiting on a ring announcement hadn't been on Sasha's agenda, she simply wanted to kick Grace's ass. The fans were more than delighted to see her make a flying start.

BREAK

Grace screamed in pain when a kendo stick slammed into her back for what she estimated was the tenth time. Pain wracked her body. As had been the case not too long ago with the chair beat down, Sasha was laying her shots in hard. Grace could feel blood trickling down her back from one of the wounds that the stick had opened up. Another shot had caught her on the side, just below her ribs. That one was even more painful than the others.

Mercifully for Grace, the last shot she had taken had broken the stick, thereby bringing the attack to an end. She had a few moments to lie there on the floor and suck up the pain while Sasha set about tearing the top off of the left hand commentary table. The monitors went next. Grace heard them hitting the floor, taking it as her cue to start getting up. Taking her time, she made it to her feet by the time Sasha had removed the top and monitors from the middle table also.

As Grace turned around, Sasha kicked her in the stomach, then dragged her over to the middle table. A body slam deposited her on top of it. Sasha climbed onto the table and picked Grace up. That was when Grace sprang into action, headbutting Sasha, sending her staggering onto the end table, holding her hands to her face to sell the headbutt.

Here we go, Grace thought, preparing herself for the biggest move of the match. Seeing Sasha starting to turn to face her, she took off at a run and launched herself through the air. Things seemed to go in slow motion at that point. Her shoulder connected with Sasha's stomach, exactly as intended. They both flew through the air before crashing down onto the table, which crumbled under their weight.

Good, Grace thought, establishing that she hadn't winded herself on the landing. She lay there face down, selling the impact. "You okay?" she quietly asked Sasha, who was lying right beside her.

The answer wasn't what she had hoped to hear. "Concussion. We need to finish."

Shit, Grace thought. Sasha must have cracked her head on either the table or the floor. It was easy to tell when you sustained a concussion. The finish was going to have to be brought forward. To further complicate matters, the referee was in the ring, having been knocked down. He would be getting up now, starting a ten count. On the spot, Grace realised that she had to get up and go into the ring to inform the official about the necessary change of plans.

In a manner that still sold the impact with the table, Grace got up and rolled under the bottom rope. "She's concussed. We need to go home now," she told the referee as she lay on the mat.

To her credit, Sasha made it back to her feet, albeit unsteadily, and was able to get back into the ring just before the ten count. After a short back and forth exchange, Sasha was able to lock in the Bank Statement. The fans roared her on, desperate to see a tap out.

With the help of a rope break, Grace was able to avoid giving up, and seemingly out of nowhere, managed to get her legs around Sasha's neck, transitioning into the Set in Stone. The fans started booing loudly, now fearful of a tap out. Moments later, it came. The booing immediately increased in volume. The fans hated the result, as Grace had known full well they would.

Standing up to celebrate, Grace was happy with the match. Apart from the apparent mishap with the table spot and the necessitated shorted finishing sequence, the match had been excellent. Both she and Sasha had given everything they had.

The referee approached her with the Raw Women's Championship. Taking it, Grace looked at it with a sense of pride that wasn't entirely for the benefit of the cameras. Being a champion was an important show of confidence in her abilities by Lucy Thorne. It was now on her to carry the belt and represent the company in the right way, even if the fans hated to see her with it.

"I'm the champ, baby!" she yelled, holding the title up triumphantly. Another volley of boos came her way, not that the huge smile on her face gave any recognition to them. The Grace Stone reign as Raw Women's Champion had begun.


	40. Chapter 40

By the time Grace completed the long walk up the ramp to the stage, her adrenaline was starting to wear off, allowing the pain from the kendo stick shots to come to the fore. To offset the agony, there was the professional satisfaction of hearing the now familiar 'Grace Stone sucks!' chant reverberating around the stadium. Acting oblivious to it, she turned at the top of the ramp, raising her championship triumphantly, one of her best smiles on her face. More boos came from the fans.

Grace found herself looking forward to the reaction she was going to get on Raw, from the loudest crowd of the year. They were going to be after her blood. It would be amazing. But before that, there were more immediate concerns. She had to go and see Sasha to find out how bad her concussion was. Although she was fairly certain she hadn't done anything wrong on the spear through the table spot, she still felt bad that her colleague had been injured by it.

The lights above the ring went off, and the cameraman right in front of Grace stopped filming her. The segment was over. She turned and walked across the stage, heading for the back.

When she walked through the curtain to Gorilla, Grace was greeted by applause from everyone there, including Lucy Thorne, who had gotten up from her position at the production desk and was standing ready to offer a congratulatory handshake. "Great job out there, Grace. Exactly how I wanted it to go down," the boss said warmly.

Apart from the rushed finish and the concussion of course, Grace thought as they shook hands. She smiled her gratitude for the compliment anyway. "Thank you. And thank you for putting this faith in me," she added, raising the title belt slightly. "I won't let you down."

Lucy nodded. "I'm sure you won't. Go and see the doctor and get those wounds looked at. They look really bloody sore."

"I will," Grace said, giving a polite smile before making her way out of Gorilla. The kendo stick wounds could wait a while. Up ahead, she saw Sasha Banks sitting on an equipment case. There were a couple of trainers with her, apparently trying to convince her that she should be in the doctor's office getting checked out by now. What they didn't know, and Grace did, was that Sasha was waiting to thank her for the match, and likely to congratulate her on her win. That was a good sign, showing that Sasha didn't blame her for whatever had happened.

"Hey, how bad is it?" Grace asked as she approached.

Sasha looked up at her with glassy eyes. "I got my bell rung pretty good. The table gave way under us, but the end part must have kind of stayed upright somehow, at least until my head cracked into it."

"I'm sorry that happened," Grace said sincerely.

"Shit happens. It wasn't your fault the table happened to break like that. You hit me right, and that was all you could do. It was a good match."

"It was. I really enjoyed it," Grace said, happy that the unfortunate incident was not being blamed on her. She offered her hand to help Sasha off the equipment case. "Come on, I think we both need to go and see the doctor."

"Do you need any help?" one of the trainers asked.

"No, I'm okay," Sasha said, waving him off as she accepted Grace's help instead.

The two women began to walk arm in arm, in the direction of the doctor's office. People always referred to seeing 'the doctor' as if there was only one of them, but in fact Lucy Thorne always insisted on having two doctors backstage as well as one at ringside during any event. The wellbeing of her staff was genuinely a priority, and all of the wrestlers appreciated that fact.

"So, how bad is the concussion do you think?" Grace asked.

"Hard to tell this soon, but I feel like I've had worse. Hopefully it'll only be a few weeks out," Sasha said, melancholy.

It was too soon to tell, Grace thought. Often, concussion symptoms didn't fully set in until hours afterwards, sometimes even the next day. A few weeks was the best case scenario, as WWE had strict protocols for that kind of injury.

Roman rounded a corner ahead of them, walking in their direction. His face lit up when he saw Grace, but then concern appeared when he saw that she was helping Sasha, with two trainers right behind them.

"That doesn't look good," he commented with concern as he approached them.

"Concussion," Sasha reported glumly. "Cracked my head on the stupid table on the way through."

"Oh, man, I'm sorry," Roman said with a sympathetic grimace. "How about you, babe? You okay?"

"Apart from the kendo stick welts, yeah," Grace said, managing a reassuring smile. Sasha's injury had taken away a lot of her celebratory mood. After all, a potentially serious injury was more important than a title win that they had known was coming for more than a week.

"You did great out there, both of you," Roman said, walking on the opposite side of Grace to Sasha.

"Thank you, honey," Grace said. "How did the finish look?"

"It was good. I didn't know Sasha was hurt until I saw you both just now."

"That's good to hear at least," Sasha said as they reached the doctor's office.

Roman pushed the door open and held it while Sasha walked in, being greeted by the two doctors. Meanwhile, Grace hung back to have a moment with Roman, who allowed the door to close, leaving them outside of the office. "You sure you're okay?" he asked.

"I am," she promised, taking his hand. "I've taken beatings with a kendo stick enough times. Sure, it hurts, but I'll be okay."

"You're badass. I love that about you."

They kissed, then Grace smiled at him. "I love the same thing about you. Rome, you should be getting ready for your match."

He was already wearing his ring attire, but there was a lot more involved in match preparation than that. She knew that he could not possibly be mentally ready while he was with her, worrying about her injuries.

"I'm going in a moment. I just wanted to check on you, congratulate you, and tell you I love you."

Grace stretched up and kissed him. "Thank you. I love you too. I'll be here to congratulate you after you beat Cesaro. Now go! You've got your own show-stealing match to put on."

"I'm going," he said. They shared a parting kiss, and he turned to leave. Grace watched him go for a moment before heading into the doctor's office.

* * *

Every year, there was a huge party the night of Wrestlemania. All employees were encouraged to attend, to blow off steam after the company's biggest three months of the year.

Grace and Roman had attended, as happy as anyone else to have a few drinks and unwind. Their Wrestlemania season had been even more frantic than most due to Miami Diving Adventures requiring a lot of attention.

As someone who didn't drink all too often, Grace felt tipsy after only a few drinks. She also felt worn out, which wasn't a good thing when there was still a Raw show to get through the following night.

"Rome, I think I might head back to the room," she said, stifling a yawn. "It's not too early, is it? I don't want to seem rude."

"Not at all. I think a few have gone already," Roman said, speaking loudly over the noise and chatter in the busy function room. "If you're ready to take off, I'll come with you."

"No, you don't have to do that," Grace said. "You stay and have a good time. You deserve it."

A rather drunken Seth Rollins chose that moment to intrude in the conversation, apparently having overheard some of it. "You're taking off? What are you, pensioners? Let me get you another beer."

"Seth!" Zelina scolded, looking distinctly tipsy herself.

"He knows I could drink him under any table in this room if I wanted to," Roman said loudly in a jovial tone. "I'm going to give him a pass tonight."

"You wish," Seth laughed. He dropped his attempts to make them stay and instead moved on to thanking them for being his friend. There was no doubt that he was big time drunk.

"Enjoy your night, and your hangover in the morning," Grace laughed when he was done going overboard.

"If you need a hand getting him back to your room, call me," Roman said to Zelina. He phrased it as a joke, but Grace and Zelina knew he meant it. On the rare occasions when Seth got drunk, he sometimes went too far. Grace could recall a couple of times when Zelina had struggled with getting him back to the tour bus after a night out.

"Thanks. Have a good night," Zelina said. She gave Roman a peck on the cheek, followed by one for Grace.

With that, Grace led Roman across the room to where Lucy Thorne and Bobby Roode were standing as part of a large group in conversation. For the sale of politeness, Grace cut in and said her thank yous and goodnights to the boss. Roman did the same, and they were free to take off.

It wasn't long before they were walking back into their room.

"I feel bad for Z when Seth gets like that," Grace said, moving over to the bed.

"It's not too often," Roman said in defence of his brother. "The guy deserves to be able to unwind from time to time. Anyway, forget about all that." He stepped up behind Grace as she started to unfasten her dress and helped her to do it. The dress fell away to the floor.

Grace immediately knew what was coming. Roman always got horny when he'd had a drink, not that she had a problem with that at all. "Are you going to make love to me, baby?" she asked innocently.

"What better way to the end the night?" he said gruffly. His fingers gently touched one of the nasty welts on her back. "These look so sore."

"They are. If you really wanted, you could put some ointment on for me," she said, doing her best to make the prospect sound seductive. She had been given a tube of ointment that was intended to soothe the pain of her injuries by one of the doctors.

"I'll do that. Lie down," Roman said softly. He moved over to the nightstand where Grace had left the ointment bottle. Picking it up, he squirted a large blob into the palm of his hand, then rubbed his hands together once so that it was spread on both palms.

Grace was now lying on her front on the bed, bracing herself for the first contact. "This is going to be cold," she said with a giggle.

"Yeah, but it's going to do you good." Roman got onto the bed and started delicately rubbing the ointment into her welts.

Sucking up the stinging sensation, Grace tried to relax and enjoy the feeling of his huge hands on her skin. For a man his size, he had a tender touch when he wanted to.

"How's that?" he asked gently.

"Nice," she purred.

Tired, tipsy, relaxed, she lay there and let him work his magic for ten minutes or do. As he did, her body warmed up, knowing that there was sex to come next.

"Stay where you are. Your back still has ointment soaking into it," he said when he was done, getting of the bed.

"You can take me from behind," she urged.

"Trust me, I'm going to."

Grace heard him wipe his hands on something, then open one of his travel cases. His trousers hit the floor. A condom packet was opened, and she heard him putting it on. Her heart started racing in excitement.

Roman got back onto the bed. Lifting her hips, he slipped into her entrance, making her gasp.

The lovemaking was slow, tender, passionate. Grace had her mind well and truly blown, and could tell by the intensity of Roman's own orgasm when it came that the experience had been as great for him.

"Jesus, babe," Roman gasped as he pulled out, his load well and truly shot.

Grace lay there with her face buried in the blanket, feeling ready to sleep as soon as she regained her breath. "I'm never going to forget Wrestlemania 37," she mumbled.


	41. Chapter 41

A good night's sleep had worked wonders for both Roman and Grace. Yes, her back was sore from the kendo stick shots she had taken, but it was not too bad. What mattered was that she felt mentally and physically refreshed, as did Roman. They had hit the gym, then gone to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.

Once they had their food trays fixed, it was time to find somewhere to sit. Grace looked around, seeing Zelina and a very hungover-looking Seth sitting at a table with Billie Kay and Peyton Royce.

"Let's sit with Bay and Daga," Roman said, pointing them out over on the far side of the restaurant.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't see them," Grace said brightly, following him across the room. They stopped briefly to say hello to Zelina and Seth before approaching Bayley and Elena's table.

"Morning, guys," Roman said, putting his tray down next to Bayley. "How was your night last night?"

Grace put her tray down next to Elena and sat down.

"I drank a bit too much," Bayley grumbled. "I can't keep up with Daga when we're on the wine."

"Of course not, I'm Italian," Elena laughed.

Grace smiled while eating her first mouthful of food.

"Your heel turn was unreal, Bay," Roman said. "I have to admit, I couldn't imagine you ever playing that kind of character. But you know what? It actually suits you."

"Thank you," Bayley smiled over the cup of coffee that she was sipping from. "I've got the new hairstyle, plenty of sets of new ring attire, but what I don't have is a new look for when I appear not wearing ring attire. That's something I need to sort out today."

"I can't help you with that. Women's fashion isn't one of my strong points," Roman chuckled, hungrily digging into his breakfast.

"No, but I can. Daga can. I'm sure Z will come with us too," Grace said.

"That would be nice," Bayley said. "I'm struggling to make a decision on what my new look should be."

"I have ideas. I'm not sure what would be best on TV," Elena said.

"Relax, guys, we'll sort it out," Grace promised. "Bay, I think you should look slick, you should have swag about you. It should be your attitude that mostly tells people you're a piece of shit."

"I like that," Bayley said thoughtfully. "That last part I definitely agree with. I have to get away from any thoughts of hugs, smiles, high fives or any of that stuff. Bayley needs to be a horrible piece of work."

"I like that more than a piece of shit," Elena said.

Grace made a point of focusing on eating her breakfast. She could tell that Elena wasn't coming to terms with the idea of seeing her girlfriend acting like a bitch on TV. It was certainly a long way removed from the real Bayley, who closely resembled her previous character.

"Remember what we talked about?" Bayley said gently to her lover. "This is going to be good for my career. Being hated by fans is part of the business. Look at the abuse Grace gets all the time."

"Yes, but I don't love Grace," Elena said sullenly.

Grace knew that the language barrier was the reason the sentence had come out awkwardly, and for that reason she decided to make a joke of it. "Just when I was starting to think we were friends."

Understanding the humour, Elena responded with a weak smile. "Hopefully I'll get used to it," was the best she could come up with.

* * *

By the time the shopping trip was over later that day, Elena was feeling better about things. A fairly long talk with Zelina seemed to have gotten through to her that there was no reason to be bothered about seeing act like a reprehensible human being on TV. It seemed like she had needed to hear what Bayley had already told her from someone else also before she could feel sure she wasn't simply being told what she wanted to hear.

Having parted ways with Elena back at the hotel, the remaining trio arrived at the arena for Raw. Bayley had several of her new purchases with her in her travel case. Her new looks were going to consist of pants, mostly black ones, and leather jackets worn open with shirts underneath. Bayley had especially liked a red and black jacket they had found. That was going to be the one she went with for the first full appearance of the new Bayley.

The group of friends walked into the building not long before the call time – unusual for them. There was a runner waiting for them, a distinctly anxious look on his face that turned to relief when he saw them.

"Ah, thank god. Lucy Thorne wants to see you in meeting room number two, right away."

"She wants to see who? All of us?" Zelina asked, now wearing her own look of confusion.

"Yes, all three of you. And a bunch of other people."

Grace had no idea what was going on. Glancing around at her friends, she saw that they didn't either. The only thing that might have made sense was The Stone Roses starting a program with Bayley, who had banked a future Raw Women's Championship opportunity with her battle royal win. But that wouldn't involve 'a bunch of other people'.

"What's it about?" Bayley asked.

"I don't know. I was told to round up everyone on the list. You were the only ones who weren't here."

"We'd better move," Grace said. As yet, she hadn't found herself on the wrong side of Lucy Thorne. Trying it out today was not on her agenda.

The three of them hurried off to find the women's locker room, pulling their cases along behind them.

"In before Bay's heel turn in cancelled," Zelina said, drawing laughter from the other two.

"I'd be getting Lucy to pay me back for everything I bought today," Bayley giggled.

"I think she can afford it," Grace said, laughing.

Arriving at the locker room, they pretty much threw their cases inside, carrying straight on to find meeting room number two. Fortunately, it was only a short distance along the hallway.

Grace led the trio inside, finding a long table with quite a lot of people sitting at it. Lucy Thorne was at the head of the table. Roman was one of the people in the meeting, she saw.

The boss made a point of looking at her watch, signalling her impatience at being kept waiting. Equally, she couldn't give them the riot act because it was still before the call time, just.

"Sorry we kept you waiting," Grace said politely.

"Have a seat," Lucy said, more than a hint of impatience in her tone. She used two fingers to point to Grace and Zelina, then to the right side of the table. "You two on this side. Bayley, you on the other side."

Grace walked around the table, happy that she was about to sit next to Roman. "Hi," she said quietly as she sat down, getting an 'I think you just about got away with that' kind of smile in return.

Okay, time to find out what the hell is going on, Grace thought, making herself comfortable on her chair.

"Right, everyone's here," Lucy said, sitting forward and resting her hands on the table top. "A big faction warfare storyline is something that we've not had in WWE for a long time. We're going to start one on Raw, beginning tonight. You are currently divided into the two teams."

Everyone started looking around the table. Grace saw that her team was Roman, Zelina, The Miz, Samoa Joe, and Bobby Roode. There was one more person on the opposite side of the table, giving the teams unequal numbers. She saw Stephanie McMahon, Seth, Drew McIntyre, Elias, Randy Orton, Ember Moon, and of course Bayley.

Lucy continued, "The concept is to have a babyface team, belonging to myself, up against a heel team which belongs to Stephanie. She will return to TV tonight for the first time in a long time, confronting me and, in basic terms, saying that she's sick of the way I'm doing what was always supposed to end up being her job."

Oh wow, Grace thought. She didn't know what exactly the deal was behind the scenes with Stephanie and Hunter's relationship with Lucy after Vince McMahon had unexpectedly sold a controlling interest in WWE to her when he had decided to retire, but this angle surely had to be sailing close to the win. Angles that did that often made great TV, though.

"The teams will start coming together over the next few weeks," Lucy was saying. "Stephanie's team is going to be called The Master Plan. My team will be called The Circle of Thorn. We have concept art for logos and such all ready to go for both groups."

"This is going to be a long term angle?" Orton asked. To Grace, the answer seemed pretty obvious.

"Yes. This has been something Stephanie and I have talked about for a while. Bobby has been wanting to come back to full time action. Also, as I said, there hasn't been a big faction on faction angle for a long time. Titles will inevitably become involved. Indeed, Grace already brings one to the table."

Grace smiled at the acknowledgement. It felt like a time where she could make a point. "I like the idea. What I'm not sure about is me being on the babyface team. I'm not exactly popular."

"Right," Stephanie said. "The thing is, though, you're booked as though you are. There's a lot of double thinking you have to do in relation to your character. You're getting booed because you're supposedly being forced on the fans as someone they ought to cheer. With that in mind, it would make no sense to put you on the heel team. We're 'forcing' you as a babyface, so you're in a key role on the babyface team."

"Right," Grace nodded. All of the double thinking, as Stephanie had put it, sometimes fried her brain.

"We need to have the Universal Championship involved," Lucy said. "Drew, you're going to be winning it at some point before the next pay-per-view."

As Drew started thanking the boss for what would be his first major title run on the main roster, Grace looked at Zelina. Her partner smiled at her. Grace could tell they were thinking the same thing: they were glad that The Stone Roses were staying together as a part of the larger group they were joining.

The meeting continued for some time as Lucy, Stephanie and Bobby laid out all of the creative plans that were in place. Grace learned that her first title defence would be at the next pay-per-view, titled Backlash, where she would take on Ember. It was a match she would look forward to.

As the meeting wore on, and the conversation started to revolve around some of the upcoming men's matches, Grace's mind started to wander, thinking of a very different meeting that would soon be happening. The next say, the Raw roster would be heading home for a week. Wednesday would see Grace meeting Roman's ex-wife Andrea for the first time to discuss Layla's scuba diving lessons. The encounter was more something Grace wanted to get through, rather than something to look forward to. In all honesty, she didn't know what to expect from Andrea. No matter how it went, Grace had no intention of being forced out of Layla's life. Calling herself a stepmother would be premature, but there was a bond there that she was not prepared to give up. She was a part of Roman's life, and therefore Layla's life as well. One way or another, Andrea was going to have to accept that.


	42. Chapter 42

During the drive over to Andrea's house, Grace was occupying her mind by browsing Twitter. It was the first time in a couple of days that she had been on the app. Predictably, after her title win on Sunday and a squash victory of Dana Brooke on the Raw after Wrestlemania, her mentions were full of people telling her to fuck off and die.

Looking up her own name, she scrolled past abuse and negativity in abundance, trying to find something positive. There were some people defending her, mainly on the grounds of race. Shaking her head a little, Grace seriously doubted that the vast majority of people hating on her were doing it because of her skin colour. No, it was all about her booking. Lucy Thorne's concept had worked well, and was continuing to do so.

"We're nearly there," Roman advised her.

Grace locked her phone and stuck it in her pocket. She recognised their surroundings, which told her they would be turning onto the street where Andrea and Layla lived in less than a couple of minutes. Layla was not going to be there today because Andrea had thought it best to have her spend the day with her grandparents while she was being talked about at home.

"You okay?" Roman asked her.

Nodding to confirm that she was, Grace had one last think about the way she wanted to handle what was sure to be an awkward encounter with Roman's ex-wife. It would be awkward for all three of them. Grace had decided that she would do her best to avoid any kind of confrontation. There was no need for her to have any ill will towards Andrea unless Andrea wanted it to be like that. Judging by everything she had seen and heard since her relationship with Roman had started, Grace believed that she was as good a parent as Roman. They both obviously wanted nothing but the best for Layla in the tricky situation of a broken home. In this case, the best for Layla was to be allowed to build a relationship with a stepmom over time, Grace thought, although she was a long way from being established enough to actually think of herself as a stepmom.

"Babe?" Roman asked, glancing at her for an answer to his question.

"Sorry, yeah, I'm okay," Grace said, flashing him a slightly nervy smile. "This is going to be tricky for all of us."

"Yeah," Roman said with a bit of a sigh. "I'm hopeful that it'll be fine. I mean, it's not like there's any animosity between Andrea and I. And it's not like we're doing anything wrong by dating, I'm moving on."

"And she is too," Grace pointed out, recalling that Andrea had mentioned to Roman that she was dating a guy. There were absolutely no grounds for a judgemental attitude from any of the three as far as she was concerned. Hopefully it would be nothing more than an awkward conversation to get through.

Shortly, Roman had the Ford GT cruising up to Andrea's house. Not for the first time, Grace found herself considering that it was bigger and nicer than where she and Roman currently lived. After all, the house they called home had actually been Roman and Andrea's first house, before they had moved on and upgraded. Luckily for Roman, he hadn't chosen to sell the old place, which had eventually left it available for him to move back to. Grace looked forward to them searching for a place of their own – something they had talked about a few times but hadn't yet started to do.

"Right, here we go," Roman said, killing the engine.

Grace reached out, took his hand and squeezed it, more for her own reassurance than his. She tried to imagine the situation from Andrea's point of view, about to meet her ex-husband's new partner. There had to be so many thoughts and emotions in her mind. Grace hoped they weren't going to be taken out on her.

Getting out of the car, she told herself to find her confidence. She wasn't a shy or nervous person. Being a pro wrestler wouldn't have been the job for her if she was. What she needed to do was be positive and polite with Andrea, in the hope of getting a similar response.

"Love you," Roman said as they approached the front door.

"Love you," Grace replied, knowing that he had said it to try and help her confidence.

Roman pressed the button to ring the doorbell.

Before she had even known Roman, Grace had seen him and Andrea on TV at WWE events, so she knew what to expect when the door opened. In truth, they looked similar; dark skin, brown curly hair, slim but athletic, attractive. Roman had a type, it seemed.

The door opened. Andrea stood there with a slightly uncertain expression on her face, dressed rather smartly in a cream blouse and black pants. "Hi," she said, managing a smile.

"Hi," Roman replied. "Andrea, this is Grace. Grace, Andrea."

"Hello, Grace. Please come in."

"Thank you," Grace said, following Roman inside. There had been no point in either of them saying it was nice to meet the other. It was discomforting, not nice.

"Go through to the living room," Andrea said.

Following Roman, Grace felt sure the house was big enough to have a snug, a den, and a main living room. It probably felt too big for Andrea and Layla by themselves. But then there was a guy in the picture now, she reminded herself.

"I have coffee brewing if you'd like one?" Andrea asked them, walking at the back of the trio.

Grace accepted and gave her preference more out of politeness than an actual desire to drink anything. Roman also asked for a coffee. Walking into the living room, Grace saw that it was the size of most of the ground floor of their house. It had an enormous TV built into a wall, a view of a beautiful garden that had a pool in it, with a further wonderful view of Lake Apopka beyond. It was a truly breath-taking room.

"Have a seat. I'll be back in a minute," Andrea said, heading off to the kitchen to fix the drinks.

There were three leather couches arranged in a U shape around a glass coffee table, in front of the huge TV. Roman sat down on one of the couches that formed a side of the U, and Grace sat down beside him. "This is a lovely house," she said hesitantly.

"Yeah," Roman replied, clearly not sure what he should or shouldn't say in response.

Christ, let this be over soon, Grace thought. She couldn't remember being in many situations that she had wanted to get out of as much as this one. The couple of minutes that it took Andrea to return with the coffees seemed like hours.

"There you are," Andrea said, setting Roman and Grace's drinks on the coffee table. They both thanked her as she sat down on the couch opposite them. "This is so weird, for all three of us, I'm sure," she said.

"Yeah," Roman said. "It's a situation I'm sure none of us imagined being in, or wanted to be in. Let's keep in mind that Layla is the reason we're here. All three of us want what's best for her, I don't think anyone doubts that."

"No, I don't doubt that," Andrea said. She took a deep breath, looking like she was building up to something. "Grace, I've been thinking about how this conversation might go over and over in my head, as I'm sure you have. I want to make it clear that I don't have any resentment or animosity towards you. To my mind, there's no reason why I should. Roman and I were divorced before you started dating him. He was free to move on with his life, as I am with mine. What's more, from what I've heard from Layla, you've been great with her. It can't be easy having someone else's child in the picture in a new relationship. I want to say I appreciate how you've been with her."

"Thank you. That all means a lot to me," Grace said sincerely, feeling her spirits lifting somewhat. "I'm glad to hear you don't feel any animosity towards me because the feeling is mutual. We're all in a situation here that isn't easy. Layla's a great kid, a testament to both of you being excellent parents. I've done my best to be more of a friendly figure than a motherly figure to her because I know that's your role in her life. I have no intention of treading on your toes in that regard."

"Thank you, I appreciate that. It was the biggest concern I had," Andrea said.

Roman had sat there sipping his coffee while they talked. He chose that moment to say something on Grace's behalf. "I can attest to what Grace says. She honestly has been amazing with Lay."

"I believe it," Andrea said, looking Grace in the eye as she spoke. "That's why I'm willing to discuss this idea of Lay learning to dive with you. It's something she really wants to do, but I have concerns. For a start, she's only ten. That seems very young to be doing something that's quite dangerous."

"Ten is the minimum recommended age," Grace conceded. "I totally understand your concerns. I would be concerned if it was my daughter. To offset that, there are a couple of things I can say. Firstly, I've been diving for twenty years, since I was eleven. It's true that I've only recently qualified as an instructor, but in truth I have been experienced and capable enough to teach people for a long time. If you gave the go-ahead for me to teach Layla, her safety would be my foremost concern."

"I appreciate what you're saying, but I am still concerned. How would the course go? I mean, how do you teach someone to dive?"

Thinking about how to word the answer to that question made a lightbulb go off in Grace's mind. "The first day is conducted in a swimming pool. It's about teaching the student about the scuba gear and how to use it safely. Then there are a few test dives in the pool. I've just had an idea," she said, looking out of the windows. "You've got a pool out there. I could bring some gear here, and Lay could do her first day of the course here. If you wanted, you could sit poolside and watch."

"Can you teach more than one person at once?" Andrea asked thoughtfully.

"Uh, yeah," Grace said, caught a little off guard by the question.

Andrea nodded. "Okay then, here's what I'm thinking: Would you teach Layla and me to dive? I'd be a lot more at ease with it if I was in the water with her. I'll pay you for my lessons. I don't expect you to teach me for nothing."

It wasn't the outcome that Grace had wanted from the conversation, or even one that she had considered. She had to look at it from Layla's point of view. There could be no doubt that she would approach her lessons with more confidence if her mom was there with her. Grace supposed that it could also be a way for her to start building some kind of bridge between her and Andrea. As awkward as was for them to meet each other right now, she could hope that it might not always be like that. With those things in mind, there was really only one answer to give. "Okay, you have a deal. I'll teach both of you, Layla free of charge. I think that would be a good thing for all of us, if I'm honest."

"Me too," Andrea said, smiling.

"I agree," Roman said. "Lay will definitely love it. We'll have to get a date worked out."


	43. Chapter 43

In an ideal world, Grace would have preferred the first two people she was going to teach to dive not to have been Bobby Roode and Lucy Thorne. Teaching her boss and her boss's partner was not exactly putting her at ease ahead of her first session as an instructor.

"Focus on your experience and your training. You've got this," Roman had encouraged her before they had left their Miami hotel room. They were staying in the same hotel as Bobby and Lucy for the three days that their complimentary diving course was going to take. Both of them had already passed the online learning aspect of their learning.

Arrangements had been made for Roman and Grace to meet Lucy and Bobby in a lounge on the hotel's ground floor, where they would have coffee before making a short trip up the street to Miami Diving Adventures, in order to rent their gear for the day. Once they had the gear, it would be back to the hotel. Miami Diving Adventures had a deal in place to rent one of their pools on an hourly rate to use for dive classes when necessary.

Entering the lounge, Grace saw Lucy and Bobby sitting in comfortable leather chairs, a low wooden table in between them. They didn't have drinks, which told her they had likely only just arrived.

"Morning," Bobby said, seeing them approaching.

"Hi!" Grace said brightly. "Ready for a day of diving?"

"We're looking forward to it," Lucy said, turning in her seat to look at her. There was a happy smile on her face that told Grace immediately the boss was not in business mode for once. It suited her.

"I'll get us some drinks in," Roman offered. "What would you like?"

Thanking him, Bobby and Lucy gave their preferences. Grace didn't need to, for Roman was more than used to what she liked for her regular order. As he headed over to the bar, Grace sat down next to Lucy.

"So, the plan is to head over to our shop when we're done here. We'll get you fitted for your gear and hire it for three days. That way we're set for the whole course. There are plenty of air tanks on the boat for days two and three."

"Sounds like a plan," Bobby said. "We're in the pool all day today, right?"

Grace nodded. "That's right. Then we'll be out on the boat for your first sea dives tomorrow."

"We're looking forward to seeing your shop. Looking at your website, it looks like you've done a great job with it," Lucy said.

"Thank you!" Grace beamed. "Today will be the first time I've been there since opening day. My manager has been keeping me up to date, and business is picking up well. It's been a very encouraging start."

"That's good to hear," Lucy said with a relaxed smile of her own. "May I suggest adding a page to the site with customer endorsements? Obviously I mean when you've had enough to make it worthwhile. I'm sure Bobby and I will be happy to give our endorsements. Unless you drown us or something," she added with a laugh.

Grace laughed also. "I'm certainly not planning on any drownings today."

"That's good to know," Bobby chuckled. "Hey, Grace, we were watching a movie with you in it a week or so back."

"Oh dear," Grace said with humour. Until Poseidon's Secret, which wasn't released yet, all of her forays into film had been quite low budget affairs. "Which one did you put yourselves through?"

Lucy grinned at the self-depreciating humour. "It was the one where your character was kidnapped for ransom. It was quite… graphic in places."

"What was graphic in places?" Roman asked, returning to the table with a tray that had four coffees on it. He put it on the table and sat down next to Bobby.

"Lucy and Bobby watched one of the movies I was in," Grace told him. "My character was kidnapped for a ransom that was supposed to be paid by the company she worked for. There were rape scenes and some mild torture, too. So, yeah, it was graphic in places. I thought I'd never want to see a roll of duct tape again after finishing that project," she added with a laugh.

Bobby laughed as he took his coffee from the tray, thanking Roman for it.

"I can imagine," Lucy said. "I was thinking while we were watching it, that after that first scene where you were dragged into the van, you spent the whole movie tied up in various ways, always with tape wrapped around your mouth. It can't have been comfortable."

"It wasn't," Grace said, sipping her drink. "The director insisted on the bondage all looking realistic, too. He would have the tape wrapped tight around my head. It got to the point where I would go as long as I could without having them take it off because it hurt every time it was removed. He'd make sure I was properly tied up, too, in whatever situation I was supposed to be in."

"I think you did very well with the role," Lucy said. "You were very expressive. It was impossible not to feel for your character. If we ever make a horror movie at WWE Studios, I'll keep you in mind."

"Thank you," Grace said, giving another of her best smiles.

"If you need a bad guy, I swing a good axe," Roman said, drawing chuckles of amusement from around the table.

"I'll keep that in mind as well," Lucy promised.

They spent almost half an hour sitting there chatting before they got up to leave. It was time for Roman to part ways with them, leaving Grace to get into professional mode. His plan for the day was to go down to the dock to catch up with Tessa Blanchard before she took Graceful Adventure out for her morning session of a dive course. After that, he was going to head into the centre of Miami to do some shopping.

Bobby and Lucy had a Mercedes hire car, a similar model to the one Roman drove when his two seat Ford GT wasn't practical. Grace got in the back for the short drive to Miami Diving Adventures. The distance itself didn't merit a car, but bringing all of the scuba gear back to the hotel did require one.

Luck was in their favour, Grace saw as they approached the shop. There was an empty parking spot right outside the door.

"Look at that. Made to measure," Bobby said as he slowly pulled the car into the space.

In the passenger seat, Lucy's attention was on the shop. The door stood open, allowing a view of several customers browsing. "Looks like you're busy, Grace. I actually feel excited to go in."

"I'm looking forward to showing you guys around," Grace said excitedly. A further source of excitement for her was that Trevor Campbell was working today. Incredibly, it would be the first time they had seen each other in person since the night he had been cut out from his car after it had crushed by a shipping container. So much had happened between them since then, but it had all taken place in texts or in phone calls.

Grace got out of the car and led her two guests into the shop. Having a quick look around, she saw four customers browsing, one of them being assisted by Deonna Purrazzo. Another customer was at the sales counter, having his purchase cashed up by Trevor. A further customer was over at the workshop, talking to Darren Young. It made her smile to see the place a hive of activity.

"Looks awesome," Bobby said, stepping up beside her. "I have no idea what I'm looking at in terms of all the gear, but the way it's all laid out is very well done."

"Thanks. I'm glad you like it," Grace said. Noticing Trevor finishing with his customer, she looked at Lucy and Bobby. "Guys, come with me. I want you to meet someone."

Trevor spotted Grace, and was around the counter before she got there. "Grace! It's so good to see you again at last!"

"Trevor! You look well!" Grace cried as they walked into an embrace.

"Well, I didn't look at my best that night," Trevor laughed as they hugged each other.

"That's true," Grace chuckled. Releasing the hug, she stepped back to handle the introductions, noticing that Lucy looked a little surprised by the way she greeted her staff. "Lucy, Bobby, this is Trevor Campbell. He and I have rather a unique story to tell. Trevor, meet Bobby Roode and Lucy Thorne. Lucy is the owner of WWE."

"Yes, I've seen you guys on TV. Nice to meet you," Trevor said, shaking hands with both of them.

"Good to meet you. I'd like to hear the unique story," Lucy said.

Grace decided to handle it. "One night we were on the highway in our bus. There was a massive multi-vehicle wreck that we were nearly caught up in. We got off the bus to see if we could help people. I saw a car that had been crushed by one of those huge metal shipping containers, like, totally flattened. I thought there was no way anyone could be alive in there, but then I heard someone yelling for help."

"No way! You were in there?" Bobby asked Trevor while Lucy stood there with wide eyes.

"I was. Somehow, God only knows how, I launched myself into the footwell before the crate landed on the car. I was trapped in there barely able to move, but I wasn't hurt."

"Incredible," Lucy breathed.

"Initially I was terrified that I might not be found," Trevor said. "But I soon heard someone talking to me. It was Grace. She promised not to leave me until help arrived. Then I noticed light coming into my little space through a gap in the twisted bodywork. It was able to stick my hand out, and Grace held it."

"We sat there talking for an hour, maybe more, until the emergency services were able to get a crane there to lift the container off the car," Grace explained. "Then the fire guys had to cut the car up to get to Trevor, and out he popped. It was unbelievable."

"What a wonderful story," Lucy said. "Grace, that was a good thing you did."

"To say the least," Trevor said. "And she didn't stop there. Grace and Roman were kind enough to not only offer me a job here, they also loaned me some money to help me and my son make the move. We'll be forever grateful to them both."

Bobby nodded his appreciation of the act of kindness.

"I love hearing things like that," Lucy said. "One of the most powerful things a person can do it help someone else when they're in need."

Grace got the impression that her stock with Ms Thorne had just increased further. She decided not to dwell on the subject. In any case, there was a customer awaiting service. "I'll let you get back to it, Trevor. We're going to be renting three complete sets of gear. Starting today, I'm teaching Bobby and Lucy to dive."

"You're in safe hands," Trevor promised the two trainees.

Lucy grunted a laugh. "I bloody well hope so."


	44. Chapter 44

Day two of Bobby Roode and Lucy Thorne's scuba lessons was going to consist of their first sea dives, in fairly shallow waters. It meant that Grace was taking them out on Graceful Adventure, with Roman and Tessa for company. When the time came, Tessa would join the trio in the water, using an underwater camera that she had brought with her to take some pictures and videos. Roman would remain on the boat in case of any emergencies.

Roman's other duty for the day was to be the cameraman for the first ever episode of Diving with Grace, the YouTube chat show series that she was keen to launch. Having Lucy Thorne as the first guest was quite a coup. Some of Tessa's video footage would be added to to cover the diving part of the show.

On balance, Grace had decided that it would be best to film the chat with Lucy before any diving took place. A day in the water was going to be tiring, especially for her clients, who were less used to it than she was. It would be better to chat to Lucy while she was fresh and excited for the day ahead.

Grace, Bobby and Lucy had all changed into their wetsuits as soon as Graceful Adventure had left the dock. They would put the rest of their gear on when the boat reached the dive site.

"Okay, I'm going to go down and grab the camera, if you're ready to start filming?" Grace asked Lucy.

"Let's do it," Lucy said, relaxing on the seating area at the back of the boat.

"Awesome." Grace walked into the boat, through the seating area inside, where a long couple of rows of full sets of scuba gear were hanging up. The boat was now perfectly kitted out for charters and courses.

"The boat looks amazing," Grace said to Tessa as she approached the front of the boat.

Holding the steering wheel, Tessa turned to smile at her. Grace noticed her wince as she turned, indicating some kind of pain in her left side. "It's great, huh? Clients have been loving it so far."

"Are you okay?" Grace asked with concern. Tessa had a wetsuit on, preventing Grace from seeing her side. Mindful of the concerns she and Roman shared over Tessa being physically abused by someone, she imagined there was some kind of bruising on her side, possibly the result of a punch or a kick.

"I'm okay," Tessa said, unable to hide her moment of shock that she had let her pain show to Grace. "I, uh, pulled a muscle or something the other day when I was bringing air tanks on-board."

Grace didn't buy that for a second, as much because of the delivery of the lie than the content of it. She wanted to help Tessa, but it was a tricky situation. If she pushed the subject, it was more likely to alienate her than to get her to open up. "Are you sure that's what it was?" she decided to ask, her tone completely non-confrontational.

"What else would it be?" Tessa asked, on the defensive.

Grace avoided answering the question. "Just know you can talk to me if you need to," she said. With that, she headed down the stairs to the lower deck, wishing she could wring the neck of whoever it was who was treating Tessa like that. Domestic abuse was a truly abominable thing in her opinion. Trying to force it from her mind for now, she grabbed the video camera and went back to the rear of the boat with it.

With Bobby and Lucy sitting there, there wasn't an opportunity for Grace to tell Roman about the encounter with Tessa. It would have to wait until later. For now, she didn't want to spoil the mood of the trip. "Here you are, Mr Cameraman," Grace said, handing the device to Roman.

"Let's see if I can remember how that guy in the store showed us to use it," Roman said.

Grace sat down near to Lucy. They were on the part of the seating that ran along the back of the boat, giving the best background to the camera shot for their chat. The boat was leaving a nice wake in the picturesque ocean.

"So, how long are we going to chat for?" Lucy asked.

"Just a few minutes," Grace said. "We're going to have some footage from today's dive in the YouTube video too, so I don't want it to run too long. I'll ask you a few questions that fans might be interested in hearing answers to."

Lucy chuckled. "Nothing too personal, I hope?"

"No," Grace grinned. She looked at Roman, who was fiddling with the settings on the camera. "Ready when you are, Rome."

"Okay, give me a minute," he said.

In less than the amount of time he had asked for, he was ready to begin filming. Sitting next to him, Bobby relaxed in the sun, enjoying a cold mixed fruits drink that had come out of the on-board refrigerator.

Grace smiled broadly into the camera, feeling oddly nervous about the introduction to her debut episode. For the moment, the shot was focused solely on her. "Hi guys! Welcome to episode number one of Diving with Grace! This will be a regular series where I bring members of the WWE roster down to Miami to scuba dive with me, and get them to answer some questions while they're here. When I decided to do this show, I was faced with choosing someone to join me for the debut episode. I felt like it had to be a big name, and I certainly managed to get a big name. I'm joined by… Lucy Thorne!" she proclaimed as Roman panned over to reveal Lucy sitting there.

"Hello! It's good to be here," Lucy smiled into the camera.

"Thank you for joining me," Grace said. "Lucy, we're minutes away from your first open water dive. How are you feeling about it?"

"I'm looking forward to it," Lucy said brightly. "My first day of training yesterday was a lot of fun. I can't wait to get down there and put the skills I learned to use."

"That's great," Grace smiled. "But I think what people will really want me to ask you about is Lucy Thorne. I mean, you don't do many interviews. Can you maybe tell me a bit more about yourself and your background?"

Lucy turned to look out at the water off the back of the boat. "Well, my background is mainly ocean at the moment. There's also a blue sky, a few birds."

Grace laughed and rolled her eyes and the awful joke, while Lucy also laughed. "She's here all week," Grace said, looking at the camera.

"But seriously, I'll tell you a bit about my background," Lucy said, looking back at Grace. "I started working for Thorne Enterprises right after I finished college. I didn't get a university education. Back then, it was my dad's business, and it was growing fast. It was a while before I climbed the ladder up to the board of directors, and eventually to Chairwoman when he retired."

"What job did you have to start with?"

"My first job? For three months my dad took me on as a cleaner. I worked night shifts, cleaning offices, canteens, even toilets. It was an important lesson he taught me by doing that, and I'm glad he did. It's important in life to never think you're better than anyone else. The other cleaners I worked with had no idea who I was, and I talked with them a lot. They were hard working people, doing their best to support themselves and/or their families. No matter what job a person does for a living, you have to respect that."

"Well said," Grace nodded. "After the cleaning job, what did you do next?"

"After that I was a receptionist for six months. Then I moved to the accounts department of one of our companies. My dad insisted that I had to work my way up, learning valuable lessons along the way."

"And then you eventually bought WWE. How did that happen? I mean, what made you want to buy it?"

"I bought a controlling share in WWE. I don't own it outright," Lucy corrected her. "But to answer your question, I have been a wrestling fan for more than twenty years. It pained me to see, in my opinion, the quality of WWE's product going downhill steadily over a number of years compared to what it used to be. I'm not going to go into the dealings I had with Vince McMahon, but in simple terms, the opportunity came up for me to get involved, and I decided that as a wrestling fan who would love to make a difference, I ought to put my money where my mouth was. I'd like to hope the fans watching this interview would agree that I haven't done too badly over the past couple of years, although of course there is always more that can be done."

The interview went on for another few minutes, discussing things like Lucy's hobbies and interests outside of WWE. None of the questions were invasive, as Grace was making an informal YouTube chat show, not running nominations for President.

"Okay, thanks for that, Lucy," Grace said after Roman had turned off the camera. "I hope I didn't ask anything you felt uncomfortable with?"

"Not at all, it was a fun little chat."

It wasn't much longer before Tessa slowed the boat to a stop and lowered the anchor. They had reached the dive site. With the exception of Roman, everyone got their scuba gear set up and put it on, then got into the water for the day's first dive of several.

Taking things steadily for the benefit of her clients, Grace took Lucy and Bobby down a few feet. Tessa approached with her underwater camera, coming at an angle that captured Grace and Lucy, but missed Bobby out of the shot. Both women looked into the camera and gave the most well-known of all scuba diving hand signals, the 'Okay'. Grace figured that would make a perfect little clip to add to the YouTube video.

* * *

On their first night back home after the three days in Miami, Roman had wanted to watch the movie starring Grace that Bobby and Lucy had talked about. Grace hadn't objected because she was interested in what he would think of it. His first comment had been, "Younger Grace is smoking hot."

"As opposed to current Grace?" she had enquired, feigning offense as she watched her twenty four year old self on the screen.

"Not at all. Current Grace is smoking hot too," he had quickly replied.

Later in the movie, there was a scene where Grace's character was bathed by her captor, who had kept her wrists tied behind her back and her mouth taped. He proceeded to sexually assault her in the bathtub.

"Shit, I guess these are the graphic parts they were talking about," Roman said.

"That's one of them. The other one is coming up," Grace said.

A couple of minutes later, they watched her character be thrown naked onto a bed, lying on her front. Her arms were stuck through the bars at the top of the bed and her wrists were bound tightly with rope. Her captor then added even more tape to her gag, wrapping it underneath her chin and around the top off her head so that her mouth was forced shut both horizontally and vertically. Her face was left encased in tape from her nose down to the top of her neck.

"That'll keep you quiet while I fuck you," the madman said.

"Jesus, they put you in some situations for this movie, with this rope, handcuffs, duct tape and shit," Roman said.

"Yeah, they did. A lot of it wasn't comfortable, but honestly? Filming this scene turned me on," Grace confessed, feeling her cheeks warming up. "I think about it sometimes when you fuck me from behind."

"Oh, really?" Roman asked, watching her character being raped on the screen despite her pathetic muffled protests. "Have you ever tried bondage? Have you ever tried it during sex?"

"No to both questions. I've wanted to, but I've never been with a partner I was comfortable saying that to. Until now, obviously. What about you?"

"I've never tried it either. I would, though. I think it would be quite hot."

Grace shifted closer to him and put her hand on his crotch, feeling his rock hard dick in her palm. "Have we got any duct tape in the house, Mr Reigns?"

"I'll see what I can find."


	45. Chapter 45

While Roman had gone to search for some duct tape, Grace had headed upstairs to their bedroom. Her heart was racing at the prospect of what they were going to try momentarily. She had fantasised about bondage before, but had never seriously thought she would try it. The main reason for that was that she hadn't expected to find herself in a relationship with someone she trusted enough. Roman, though, she trusted implicitly. Her relationship with him was different to any she had been in before. It felt to her like they would be together forever, which was certainly what she wanted.

With trust not an issue, the only stumbling block for tonight's fun could have been Roman not wanting to experiment with bondage. Thankfully, there had been no reluctance from him at all. If anything, he had seemed eager. She supposed that shouldn't exactly have been a surprise to her. They were about to have hot sex, and what man turned that down when it was on offer? The thought was enough to make her smile.

Hearing Roman's heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, Grace made an effort to lie in an inviting way on the bed, as if finding her naked wouldn't be enough to turn him on. "Find anything?" she called out, putting innocence into her voice.

"Sure did," Roman said as he appeared in the doorway. His eyes widened in excitement and anticipation when he saw her naked body waiting for him. "I thought we were out of luck until I checked the garage, but then I found these." He held up a roll of silver duct tape and a couple of lengths of blue chord.

"Well, Mr Reigns, I guess that only leaves the question of what you're going to do with them?" She had addressed him as Mr Reigns for a specific reason, thinking back to their conversation at the Hall of Fame ceremony where they had talked about him playing the role of a mob boss. It was a concept that excited her greatly, and she wanted him to slip into the role now. A powerful man in every sense of the word dominating her and fucking her would literally blow her mind.

"What am I going to do with them? Whatever I want, that's what I'm going to do," he said, getting onto the bed. Before they could go any further, he had to get serious for a moment. "Babe, before we do this, we should make sure you're going to be safe. Neither of us have done anything like this before. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Trust me, I'll make it obvious if I want you to untie me," she promised.

"Fair enough," Roman said before getting back into the mood of the evening. "Right, turn over. I want you lying on your front."

Obediently, Grace rolled over so that she was lying on her stomach. Roman took her wrists and passed through the bed frame, either side of one of the bars. He wrapped one of the blue chords around her wrists a couple of times, then prepared to tie a knot in it. "I'll try not to make it too tight. I don't want it to be painful for you," he said.

Grace would have preferred him to stick to the roleplay aspect of things, but at the same time she did appreciate his concern for her safety. After all, she didn't want to be tied up tight enough to restrict her circulation. That would go beyond the point of enjoyment.

Roman pulled the chord reasonably tight and secured a knot in it. "How's that?" she asked.

Testing her range of movement, Grace discovered that she was unlikely to get free. The chord could possibly have been tighter, but considering that this was their first time experimenting, she decided it would be fine. "I'm not going to get that off," she informed him.

"For sure I'm going to get you off," he pledged gruffly.

"I don't doubt it."

"But first, I have to shut you up. Can't have you screaming and begging for more, I'm afraid."

"Do your worst," Grace challenged him defiantly.

She was rewarded with the sound of tape being stretched from the roll. A moment later, Roman reached around her head and pulled it tightly over her mouth. He proceeded to wrap it around her head, as he had seen in the movie she had starred in. When he was done, he tore the roll free and dropped it on the floor, leaving her effectively restrained and gagged.

"There, that should do the job."

"Mmpph," Grace moaned, testing the gag. The tape was strong and sticky, sealing her mouth up well. She turned her head to the side, resting it on her pillow. From there, she could look at Roman as he got off the bed and undressed. Seeing his big hard cock when he pulled his boxers down made her gasp in excitement.

"Oh, look at that look in your eyes," he smirked looking down at her. "You like what you're seeing, don't you?"

"Mmm hmmm," Grace groaned, breathing heavily through her nose.

"You'll like it even more in a minute." Now undressed, Roman went over to his nightstand, where he always kept a supply of condoms. He wasted no time in opening one and putting it on.

Waiting impatiently, Grace struggled with her bound wrists and mumbled protests into the tape, mainly for his benefit since it conveyed her helplessness as his captive.

Looking at her like she was a whole meal, Roman got back onto the bed. Moving into position to take her from behind, he lifted her hips and slipped inside her.

Grace moaned into her gag as he filled her and began to fuck her, moving slowly at first, then gradually quickening the pace. Lying there with her eyes closed, she focussed her mind on the bondage and her inability to get free or talk. It intensified the enjoyment of the experience significantly, and in almost no time at all she was moaning loudly in pleasure.

"Oh yeah, you love it, you kinky bitch," Roman said, talking down to her. Grace imagined herself as some whore picked up off the street to be used and abused by a mob boss. The imaginary scenario had her eyes rolling back in her head in ecstasy as she approached her peak.

"That's it, scream as best you can. Come for me," Roman demanded, pounding away.

His instructions were irrelevant to Grace, who couldn't have stopped herself crying out into the tape even if she had wanted to. When it came, her orgasm was the longest and most intense she could remember, so intense that she barely even noticed Roman shooting his load at the same time.

"Fucking hell," he panted when it was over, pulling out of her. "That was unreal."

"Mmmmmm," Grace sighed, lowering her head to the pillows again.

"Lift your head. Let me take that off," Roman said, leaning forwards. He peeled the tape from around her head as carefully as he could, doing his best not to cause her too much pain.

"Ow," Grace said when it was pulled from her lips. "Christ, Rome, that was incredible. We have to do that more often. Next time we can do it for longer, too, and I want you to properly roleplay as a mob boss. And I want better bondage."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did," he said, leaning down to kiss the side of her neck. "If you want to do it more often, we will. I'll make sure to put you in better bondage, just remember you asked for it."

"I'll remember you promised it," she said, licking her top lip seductively.

* * *

"I keep thinking about last night," Grace said over breakfast the next morning. She was sitting opposite Roman at their kitchen island.

"You're not the only one. It was seriously hot."

"Hell yeah it was. Honestly, I was worried if you'd think I was weird for enjoying that kind of thing."

"Mmm," Roman objected through a mouthful of pancake. When he finished eating it, he elaborated. "Not at all. Everyone has fetishes, and I'm sure there are a lot weirder ones out there than that. Besides, I enjoyed it as much as you did."

"That's good to know," Grace smiled over the top of her coffee cup. "I love you, Rome."

"I love you too, Grace," he said sincerely.

They ate for a couple of minutes in a contended silence before Roman spoke again, changing the subject. "It'll be good when you've joined The Circle of Thorn. We've never been together on-screen before."

"That will be fun," Grace said, smiling as she thought about it. "I just hope I don't cause everyone else to get crapped on."

The Circle of Thorn team's popularity had taken off faster than even Lucy Thorne herself had likely expected. After the initial excitement around Stephanie McMahon's shocking return to TV, she had quickly reverted to type as a despised heel character. The group of heel wrestlers she had assembled, named The Master Plan, had started running roughshod over Raw's babyfaces, decimating several of them. Lucy had responded by starting to put together her own group, which now only needed Grace's addition to complete it. The only potential problem with that was whether adding her to the team would harm its standing with the fans. There was certainly little chance of them changing their opinion of her as a result of it. Too much water had gone under that bridge by now.

"You won't get everyone else crapped on. You'll probably continue to be crapped on yourself, but who cares? You're used to it by now, and what really matters is that over these past few months you've become one of the biggest names in women's wrestling. This is what I always used to tell myself when I was the person it was 'cool' to shit on: It doesn't matter what reaction you get, so long as you're getting one. You're at the top of the mountain right now. It's not likely to change any time soon, either."

"I know you're right," Grace said, her tone remaining upbeat. "Hey, if nothing else, the pay is a lot better now. I got a huge payoff for Wrestlemania."

"You were in one of the headline matches, for a title. That was always going to pay well. And the merch money is coming in too. Despite all the booing and abuse, I see plenty of Stone Roses shirts each week."

"That's true. I think that's partly what's helping to keep Zelina onside." Grace had ongoing concerns about her friend and teammate's happiness. For the past couple of months, Zelina had taken a back seat to Grace on most shows. Although there had been no heat between them over it, Grace didn't have to be an expert in psychology to figure out that Zelina wasn't particularly happy. Whether the Stone Roses becoming a part of a bigger team was going to help that situation or make it worse was anyone's guess at this point.

"Z will be fine. She's going to be on TV every week, in the biggest angle on Raw. She's in a better spot than a lot of people in the locker room."

Grace nodded as she worked on her final mouthful of food. "That's true. I just wish I knew what the two of us will be doing once we're part of The Circle of Thorn."

"You won't have to wait long to find out."


	46. Chapter 46

As with all plans that seemed to be working out perfectly, the devil was in the detail. Grace was getting stock for Miami Diving Adventures at reduced prices in exchange for enlisting her colleagues to help out with some modelling. The issue she hadn't thought through was one of logistics. It was all well and good asking her friends to help her, but she needed those friends and the gear that her suppliers wanted modelling to be in the same place at the same time.

The only way to resolve the problem had been for Grace to bring an extra travel case with her, filled with the products that she needed to have modelled. It had made her realise that in future she would be better off trying to get people to volunteer to help out on off days. It was lucky that so many members of the roster lived in Orlando.

Having brought the additional case with her when she and Roman had flown out for the Backlash pay-per-view, Grace's task when she arrived at the arena was to recruit two volunteers. Cressi had sent her two women's wetsuits, so she didn't need to extend her recruitment drive outside of the locker room.

Once everyone who was working the show had arrived, Grace stood up from the bench in front of her locker. "Guys can I have everyone's attention real quick?" she asked loudly, needing to cut through the multiple conversations taking place in the room. Silence and attention were quickly granted to her.

"Thank you," Grace said, now at a normal volume. "A lot of you know quite a bit about the dive shop Roman and I have opened. We've done a deal with our suppliers to get products at cheaper rates in exchange for free promotion from our colleagues, using the considerable following that most of us have. So, what I'm looking for, if you'll be kind enough, is two volunteers to model wetsuits and snorkel gear tomorrow. Charlotte, unfortunately you're too tall for the two wetsuits I've been given, and Zel, Alexa and Nikki, you're too short. But anyone else should be okay. Anybody up for helping me out?"

There were murmurs of agreement from most of the women, most of them lacking much enthusiasm. Mandy Rose stood out. "Sonya and I will do it," she said, sounded positively excited about the idea.

"Yeah?" Grace asked happily, looking to Sonya Deville for confirmation, getting a nod in response. "Awesome, thank you. You guys will be perfect for it."

"It'll be fun," Mandy said. "I mean, I love modelling."

Grace was surprised by the level of enthusiasm, but grateful for it. If she was lucky, it would carry over to the other women. For now, at least she had two willing participants for her first modelling session. Mandy and Sonya were both gorgeous, too, which was obviously a help.

"Thanks, guys," Grace said. "I'll call you in the morning and we can work something out."

"Sounds like a plan," Sonya said.

"Awesome," Grace said, sitting back down. By then, the conversations around the room had started back up again.

"Mandy sure was up for that," Zelina said quietly with a smile. "She almost bit your hand off before you finished asking for the favour."

"I think it's sweet, the way she looks at Sonya. If ever two people were in love, it's those two."

"It is sweet," Zelina conceded. Everyone in the locker room knew that WWE's first openly lesbian couple had recently moved in together. It was impossible not to be happy for them.

"Anyway, that's tomorrow's thing to think about," Grace said, shifting her attention to Backlash. "Shall we get to makeup?"

"Ready when you are," Zelina said. "Then we'll need to go and see Lucy about the finish."

Both members of the Stone Roses were to be involved in Grace's match against Ember Moon for the Raw Women's Championship. As yet, they didn't know exactly what the plan was, only that it would lead to them joining The Circle of Thorn. And so much for their popularity, Grace thought.

* * *

Ahead of the match, Grace had anticipated a mixed reaction from the fans. They didn't want to cheer Ember Moon because she was trying to claim the Raw Women's Championship for Stephanie McMahon and The Master Plan. On the other hand, they didn't want to cheer Grace Stone because fuck Grace Stone was an ever prominent sentiment.

It was for that reason that there were some cheers mixed in with the boos when Stephanie McMahon rushed down the ramp near to the end of what Grace considered to have been a decent match. She was about to lock in her Set in Stone submission hold.

The noise from the crowd rose as Grace wrapped her legs around Ember's throat, the reaction again mixed.

Stephanie got up onto the apron, attracting the referee's attention. He rushed over to her, admonishing her to get down.

With the referee's back turned, Ember started tapping out. The match should have been over. Grace showed her frustration by pulling at her own hair, screaming at the ref to turn around.

Suddenly cheers overpowered boos from the fans. The reason was that they could see Lucy Thorne marching down the ramp. A camera shot captured the pissed off look on her face.

Grace gave up on the submission hold and got up to remonstrate with the referee for his incompetence.

Meanwhile, Lucy strode up behind Stephanie, grabbed both of her ankles and pulled her legs out from under her.

Stephanie fell from the apron, smashing her face on it on the way down. The fans roared in approval, as the one person in the entire situation they were prepared to cheer for was Lucy.

With Stephanie out of the picture and the referee now focusing his attention where it was supposed to be, Grace turned around to go back after Ember. Little did she know, Moon had picked herself up and climbed to the top rope.

Ember launched herself through the air, hitting a picture perfect Eclipse on Grace. The crowd popped, sensing a title change about to take place.

Hurrying to make a cover, Ember hooked Grace's leg, locking the pin in good.

"One!"

"Two!"

Grace somehow managed to get a shoulder up at the last possible moment, to another loud reaction, mostly boos. Grace had expected that. She wasn't sure if anyone had ever kicked out of the Eclipse before, so seeing her do it was bound to piss her haters off.

It got much worse for them moments later when Grace countered a whip by Ember, hit a pop-up powerbomb, then locked in the Set in Stone for a second time.

Ember tapped out almost immediately this time, drawing the kind of ferocious boos that Grace was used to getting for any victory at this point.

Outside the ring, Lucy would probably have been celebrating the fact that The Master Plan had been denied a victory if she hadn't already seen Bayley coming down the ramp.

Dressed all in black, Bayley looked like she had bad intentions. What was worse was that she was looking at Lucy.

Sensing the danger at hand, Lucy retreated into the ring, taking refuge behind Grace.

Bayley entered the ring, showing no fear in going right after Grace, likely because she had already been through a match, and Bayley expected to get the upper hand on her. It didn't quite work out like that, at least initially. The two women started throwing right hands at each other, Grace giving as good as she got.

But Ember charged Grace from behind, knocking her down with a forearm to the back of the head. Both Bayley and Ember started putting the boot into her. Lucy shied away from helping, as getting physically involved wasn't her character's style at all. Pulling Stephanie off the ring apron earlier was probably the furthest she had ever gone.

Help for Grace was at hand, however. Zelina came running down the ramp, brandishing a steel chair. Bayley saw her coming, alerted Ember, and they both evacuated the ring before Zelina got there, avoiding any potential attack with the chair.

As Zelina slid into the ring and went to help Grace up, Bayley and Ember rushed around the ring to do the same for Stephanie, who was sitting on the floor holding her face, selling the impact with the ring apron.

Once Stephanie was on her feet, the three heels started retreating up the ramp, shouting abuse at those in the ring as they walked.

Attention turned to the ring, where Grace was back up. The referee handed her title belt back to her. She and Zelina looked at Lucy, whose hand gestures and emphatic speech clearly indicated that she was floating the idea of the two of them joining her in the fight against McMahon.

Figuring out that Lucy was trying to recruit the Stone Roses, the fans started booing again. Supposed favouritism being shown to Grace behind the scenes was the reason she was hated. The last thing they wanted to see was favouritism being shown to her on-screen as well.

Grace and Zelina looked at each other, showing some scepticism over what Lucy was saying to them.

Undeterred, Lucy extended her hand to Grace. Everyone realised that this was a formal invitation to join The Circle of Thorn.

The Stone Roses conferred again. It looked like Zelina was perhaps trying to talk Grace into accepting the offer.

Not looking entirely convinced, Grace nonetheless turned to Lucy and slowly shook her hand. Boos went up again, persisting while Zelina also shook the boss's hand.

Lucy's music began to play, bringing the segment to a close. As the two new Circle of Thorn recruits left the ring, Lucy was shown looking pleased with how events had ended up playing out.

Grace was also pleased with how things had gone. She had put on a good match with Ember, and the Stone Roses joining The Circle of Thorn had gone exactly as she had expected, being treated like a big deal, if not a popular development. A good night's work, she decided as she walked with Zelina up the ramp.

* * *

The next morning, Grace was on her way to meet Sonya and Mandy at one of the hotel's outdoor swimming pools for their short modelling session. She had brought her travel case with her, containing the two wetsuits, two set of snorkel gear and two pairs of fins that Cressi had sent her for promotion.

Walking out into the pool area, Grace found her two volunteers waiting for her, both wearing bikinis. Even better, there was currently no one using the pool they had chosen. "Hi! Thanks again for helping me with this," she said brightly.

"You're welcome," Sonya said with a smile. "Let's get to it while we've got the pool to ourselves."

"What do you need us to model?" Mandy asked, showing a level of enthusiasm that Grace found a little surprising. It was a surprise she liked. If someone as sexy as Mandy was going to be a willing model, she was sure her suppliers would be very happy with.

Setting her travel case down on its back, Grace unzipped it to reveal the contents. "I need you to model these wetsuits, the fins and the snorkel gear. It shouldn't take long, I just need a few shots of each of you wearing it all, and I need you to post them to your Instagram accounts for me, tagging the official Cressi account. I'll go through that with you before we post anyway."

"It's a good job I don't mind looking like an idiot in front of thousands of people," Sonya giggled, taking a pair of black fins with red styling out of the case.

"You'll look sexy," Mandy said, biting her bottom lip.

"Sshh," Sonya scolded her playfully. "There's nothing sexy about wearing a wetsuit."

Grace picked up a vibe from Mandy that she disagreed with that statement. She decided not to comment on it. If that was what Mandy liked, who was she to judge? It hadn't been long since she had been tied to her bed, acting out what had essentially been a rape fantasy. She was hardly in a position to fetish shame anyone.

Sonya decided to go first, putting on the wetsuit that matched the colour scheme of the fins she had pulled out of the case. While she was getting dressed, Grace took out one of the all black mask and snorkel sets, assembling it so that it was ready when Sonya needed it.

"Just put the mask on your forehead, that'll be fine," Grace said, handing it over once Sonya was comfortable in the wetsuit and had the fins on.

Sonya did as she had been asked. "Okay, where do you want me?"

"On the edge of the pool, I think," Grace said. Mandy and I will go around the other side and take pictures.

"I'll take the pictures. I'm a good photographer," Mandy said as Grace retrieved a camera from one of her case's side pockets.

"Alright, sounds good to me," Grace said, handing the camera over. "I'll have to get you guys to help me out more often if you're going to do all the work for me."

"Any time you need us, all you have to do is ask, right, Sonya?" Mandy asked.

"Sure. We're happy to help," Sonya said, smiling at her girlfriend's excitement.

I bet this isn't the first time Sonya's been in a rubber suit for Mandy, Grace thought, hiding what she was thinking behind a relaxed smile as she walked over to the far side of the pool, where she would be well out of the way of the shots that Mandy was about to take.

"We'll take plenty of pictures, then Grace can choose the ones she wants us to post," Mandy said.

Over the course of the next ten minutes, Grace watched Mandy run the modelling session for her, instructing Sonya on how to pose in various ways on the side of the pool. She then had her get in the water for more shots, followed by a bunch more with her also wearing the mask and snorkel properly. It was a better job than Grace herself would have done, she felt sure.

"How would you like to be my official photographer, Mandy?" Grace asked. "I could toss a few bucks your way for the work. It sure seems like you know what you're doing, and you have a passion for it."

"I'd love to," Mandy said. "And you need a better camera. We should take underwater shots too."

"Good point. I'll get a better camera sorted out," Grace said.

And maybe I'll be able to get you some gear to have fun with on your own time, she thought, thinking better of saying it. She looked forward to telling Roman about the decidedly interesting experience. A fetish for scuba gear was a new one on her.


	47. Chapter 47

"Remind me again how I got myself into this situation?" Grace said to Roman. They were in his Mercedes, only minutes from Andrea and Layla's house. Today was the first day of the practical phase of their scuba certification courses. Both of them had completed the online portion of their learning, Andrea likely having helped Layla with it. Layla would be working towards a junior certification, which she would be able to upgrade to full certification once she was fifteen years old.

Roman smiled, showing some amusement, but he responded seriously. "It'll be fine. Remember, you're doing this for Layla. She'll really appreciate it, as do I. We both know how excited she's been about learning to dive. That snorkelling session she had with you made her catch the bug for it."

"Aww, it totally did. She loved it," Grace recalled fondly. That day had been the first proper one on one bonding experience she'd had with Layla, and for that reason it would always be memorable.

Shortly, Roman pulled the car onto the driveway of Andrea's house. There was plenty enough room for it to fit on there behind what Grace assumed was Andrea's brand new Honda. Grace wasn't any kind of expert on cars, but the one she was looking at was a fairly sporty model, and looked expensive.

"All set?" Roman asked her as he killed the engine.

"Yeah," Grace reported, glad that she wasn't feeling nervous. She needed to be in scuba instructor mode today, so nerves had no place being on her mind. Since Andrea was paying for her lessons, she was actually going to be Grace's first official client of her instructing career. What a weird turn of events that was. "How about you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Roman smiled. "Let's be honest, I'm going to be sitting poolside in the sun all day, drinking beer and watching you teach my daughter to dive."

"And your ex-wife," Grace pointed out.

"Her too. But that's not why I'm here."

"And you'll even get driven home later," Grace said.

"Don't make me regret that," he said jokingly.

Grace gave him a withering look that he would know had humour behind it. With that, they got out of the car. They had needed to use the Mercedes because the Ford GT had no trunk space for the two travel cases that Grace had needed to bring with her. Three sets of scuba gear was a lot to pack. Retrieving one of the cases focused her mind on the first concern of the day. Due to today's first part of Layla and Andrea's courses taking place at their home, Grace had needed to pick out some rental gear for them at Miami Diving Adventures. Roman had been able to remember their sizes for their wetsuits and fins, but the rest of the gear was not tested for the best fit in the way that it ideally should have been.

"It's going to be a good day," Roman said, taking a six pack of beer out of the trunk, along with the other travel case. The three air tanks remained in the trunk for now.

Chuckling, Grace followed him up the driveway to the front door. Unease at seeing Andrea again notwithstanding, she was greatly looking forward to seeing Layla, as she always did. She did feel slightly on edge over how she would interact with Layla, though. Would Andrea take offense if they shared a hug? She wished she had spoken to Roman about it earlier, but it was too late now.

Andrea opened the door, smiling politely. "Morning. Come in."

"Morning," Roman said leading Grace inside.

"Hi, Grace," Andrea said.

"Hi, Andrea," Grace replied as she hauled her case over the threshold, feeling awkward.

"Layla! Your dad and Grace are here!" Andrea yelled as she closed the front door.

Running footsteps could be heard upstairs straight away.

"Where's my little monster?" Roman called out, walking over to the bottom of the stairs.

"Dad!" Layla yelled, appearing at the top of the stairs.

Grace smiled as she watched Layla run down the stairs and jump into her father's arms.

"I missed you, sweet pea," Roman said as he hugged her.

"I missed you too."

Roman put Layla down, and it was Grace's turn to greet her. "Hi, Lay!"

"Grace!" Layla cried, hurrying over to her. The decision about whether or not to hug her was taken out of her hands by Layla approaching with her arms spread out. Refusing her would only look mean and upset her.

"Looking forward to diving today?" Grace asked as they embraced.

"Yes!" Layla said excitedly.

"She's talked about nothing else the last few days," Andrea said with a smile. "Can I get you a drink or anything, or shall we get straight to it?"

"I'm good for now, thanks," Grace said. "I'm ready to make a start when you are."

"Come through then," Andrea said, setting off towards the living room.

When they entered the living room, Grace saw that the doors to the garden were open already, a pleasant breeze blowing into the room. The pool looked inviting. Grace started to warm to the task at hand. Even though her first paying client was Roman's ex-wife, there was still professional enthusiasm and satisfaction to be had in teaching her. In addition, teaching Layla to dive was going to be awesome.

"I'll go and fetch the air tanks for you," Roman said, putting his beers down next to a sun lounger that he was going to claim for the day. Ahead of time, Grace had told him that if he wanted to sit and watch her teach, that was fine, but he couldn't interrupt. Learning to dive was a serious endeavour, and it had to be treated as such. He headed back into the living room to go out to the car.

"Right, gather round, please," Grace said to her two students as she set her case down on its back at poolside. Roman had left the one containing her gear standing nearby. "I've brought a full set of scuba gear for each of you. In an ideal world you would have tried it all on in our dive shop ahead of time. That's something we're going to have to do next time, when we're down in Miami for your open water dives. For now, this gear should do. The first thing I'm going to do is have you put your wetsuits on. Thanks to Roman, I'm confident they're going to fit."

Grace opened her own case and put on her wetsuit, while Andrea helped Layla with hers, then put on her own. Meanwhile, Roman returned with the three air tanks, setting them down at poolside. Job done, he went and settled onto his sun lounger.

"Okay, good," Grace said, now fully in instructor mode. "You'll find that the course starts out very easy. Some of the things I'll be asking you to do might even seem a bit tedious, but we need to go through it all, okay? Layla, think of your tests at school. You have to answer all of the questions, even the really easy ones, right?"

"Right," Layla said earnestly. Happily for Grace, she was being attentive, wanting to learn.

Grace smiled at her young student. For obvious reasons, teaching a ten year old had to be approached differently to teaching an adult. "Do you remember how to assemble a mask and snorkel, how I showed you in Miami?"

"Yes," Layla said confidently.

"Great!" Grace said with enthusiasm. She looked at Andrea. "Have you ever snorkelled before?"

"Yeah. I know how to set up snorkel gear."

"Okay, good. We're going to do that together now," Grace said. "Andrea, I need you not to help Layla from now on, please. I need to see her demonstrate her own skills and knowledge."

Andrea nodded an acknowledgement.

Grace went over to her case and fetched her mask, snorkel and fins. She had taken the snorkel and mask apart ahead of time so that the three of them were starting at the same point.

It was encouraging to see Layla go about attaching her snorkel to her mask's strap and then reattaching the end of the strap to the mask as if it was second nature. She really had paid attention the first time she had been shown how to do it. Andrea also achieved the simple task without any issues.

"Great," Grace said when they were done. "Now, for the first part of the course, I need to assess your basic competence in the water. That means I need to see how well you can swim," she added for Layla's benefit.

"You already saw how well I can swim," Layla objected.

"We need to pretend I didn't," Grace said patiently. "It's a part of the course, so I need to see you put your fins, mask and snorkel on, and swim five lengths of the pool. Can you do that for me?"

"I can," Layla said confidently.

"Great! Why don't you go first for me? You can show your mom how it's done," Grace said, giving Andrea a little smile. She was glad to get one in return.

Layla took a moment to put her gear on, then dropped into the pool.

Grace sat down on the edge of the pool. "Alright, Lay, remember how I taught you to snorkel? Long, deep breaths. Keep your head under the water, and give me five lengths. You can go at whatever pace you're comfortable with, there's no hurry."

Needing no further instruction, Layla set off on her assigned task. Andrea sat down next to Grace, putting her own fins on. "I guess I'll be doing that next?" she asked.

"You will," Grace nodded. "I know it's not a challenge, but again, it's part of the course."

Watching Layla swimming away from them, Andrea said, "You're really good with her, Grace. I don't just mean as an instructor, either."

"Thank you," Grace replied. The words meant a lot to her.

"It can't be easy, having someone else's child come into your life."

Grace looked at Andrea, taking a second to consider her response. "I don't think this situation is easy for any of us. But I don't look at Layla as a problem or an inconvenience, not at all. I enjoy spending time with her."

"And she enjoys spending time with you. In a way it's tough for me to deal with that. In time, I guess I'll get used to it."

Grace could respect the honesty. She responded with an understanding smile. "I get that. Like I said when we came over before, I don't want to tread on your toes at all. If you ever think I do so in any way, please feel free to talk to me about it."

"Will do," Andrea said, watching Layla swimming back towards them.

Getting her head back into instructor mode, Grace felt glad that she and Andrea were building an understanding. They would likely never be going on a girl's night out together, but they could be friendly with each other whenever they had contact. There was no reason for that not to be the case, and being civil was the right way to behave for Layla's sake.

The course proceeded for an hour, with Grace satisfying herself of her student's swimming abilities, and moving on to showing them how set up all of the scuba gear, and giving them a thorough talk on safety. When that was done, she called a five minute break for everyone to get a drink.

Andrea said that she and Layla would fetch the drinks, so Grace went over to Roman, who was still relaxing on his sun lounger.

"Looks like it's going well," he observed with a smile.

"It is. Lay's such a good learner for her age."

"She's a smart, passionate kid," Roman said proudly. "She loves the idea of diving, and wants to master it. Wait until her next lessons when we take her out on the boat. She's going to be in her element."

"She is," Grace smiled, looking forward to it. "Hey, I was thinking we might invite Trevor and Tyler to join us on the boat. I think it would be good for Tyler to get to know Layla, since he's just moved across the country and doesn't have many, if any, friends yet."

"That's a good idea," Roman said. "And Trevor being there will give me someone to talk to while you're in the water."

"Aww, poor Rome gets lonely," Grace teased, laughing.

Roman laughed. "Seriously, though, it's a good idea. I like Trevor, he's a nice guy. You should call him later and set it up."

Grace nodded, smiling cheerfully. "Alright, I'll do that."


	48. Chapter 48

The day was starting well for Grace. Upon arriving in Miami, she and Roman had gone straight to Miami Diving Adventures, where they had arranged to meet Andrea and Layla, who were travelling down from Orlando separately. They had just entered the shop, finding it quite busy. Seeing multiple potential customers in there made Grace beam from ear to ear.

"Busy," Roman commented happily.

"Yes!" Grace cried. In truth, of course, it was no secret to her that the shop was doing well. She received updates most days from Deonna Purrazzo, and checked the company's accounts every day.

Deonna herself was working the sales counter, with Darren Young working the workshop and Chelsea Green helping customers on the shop floor. Trevor Campbell had the day off, and would be bringing his son down to Graceful Adventure a little bit later, to meet Grace, Roman and Layla for the first time.

"Hi!" Grace said, approaching Deonna.

With no customers currently needing to be served, Deonna was working on writing something in a large diary. Upon hearing Grace's greeting, she looked up. "Oh, hi! How are you?"

"We're good, you?" Roman asked.

"I'm good," Deonna smiled.

"What are you working on there?" Grace asked. Looking at the diary, she saw surnames and times written down each day.

"This is where I keep track of the bookings we take for Graceful Adventure. We lost a couple yesterday because Tessa called in sick."

"Aww," Grace said, instinctively sympathetic towards her employee. "What was wrong?"

"That's the thing," Deonna said, her tone changing slightly. "She told me she had flu. I didn't think she sounded all that bad, and today she's back on the boat. I get the impression she lied to me."

Grace looked at Roman, and saw that he was thinking the same thing she was. She suspected the real reason Tessa had stayed home might have been that she had received a beating, not for the first time.

"We'll look into it," Roman told Deonna.

The conversation moved on to business, interrupted a couple of times by Deonna having to cash up purchases for customers.

"Look who's here!" Roman said suddenly, causing Grace to turn towards the entrance. She saw that Layla and Andrea had just walked in.

"Dad!" Layla cried, jogging up to Roman.

He crouched down and hugged her. "Lay! How are you, sweet pea?"

"I'm good," Layla said sweetly.

"Hi," Grace said to Andrea, smiling.

"Morning," Andrea replied pleasantly. "The little mermaid there is looking forward to the next part of her course. I've heard about nothing else all week."

"That's adorable," Grace said. It was her turn to greet Layla, so she crouched down for a hug. "Hi, Lay! Ready to dive in the ocean?"

"Yes!" Layla cried as they embraced.

"Awesome! Let's go and fix you up with some scuba gear, shall we?" Roman had already said he would buy everything Layla needed, leaving Andrea only having to pay for her own equipment.

"Can mine be blue?" Layla asked Grace hopefully. "It's my favourite colour."

"I don't know if we have much that's all blue, but we'll get you as much blue as we can. Let's go and have a look around."

Roman took Layla's hand, leading her towards the children's section. Andrea walked just behind them. Before she followed them, Grace looked at Deonna.

"She's a gem," Deonna gushed, having seen and heard the whole exchange.

"Yeah, she is," Grace smiled.

* * *

An hour later, Grace and Roman were loading three sets of scuba gear onto Graceful Adventure. Layla had been able to get blue fins and a mask with a blue frame, but had needed to settle for a black wetsuit. She had been happy enough with it all.

Andrea was sitting with Layla at the back of the boat. Tessa had fetched them chilled fruity drinks from the refrigerator in the galley.

"Hello there!" a man's voice called out from the edge of the dock as Grace was closing the trunk of Roman's Mercedes. She recognised the voice before she turned around and saw Trevor Campbell walking towards her. With him was a young, shy-looking boy with short brown hair. He was wearing glasses and a backpack. It was the first time she had seen Tyler Campbell.

"Morning," Grace called back.

Roman walked up the ramp, standing next to Grace while they waited for Trevor and Tyler to reach them.

Trevor approached Grace first, greeting her with a peck on the cheek. "Good to see you."

"And you," Grace said cheerfully.

"Trevor," Roman said, offering his hand.

"Roman. How are you?" Trevor asked as they shook.

"Good," Roman said with a smile.

"Guys, this is Tyler. Tyler, say hi to Roman and Grace."

"Hi," Tyler said shyly.

Prepared for the shyness ahead of time, Roman had a plan to help Tyler come out of his shell a bit and enjoy the day. "Ever been out on a dive boat before, Tyler?" he asked.

"No," the boy said quietly.

"Neither has my daughter, until today. She's about your age. Want to come and meet her?"

"Sure," Tyler said, seeming more positive about having someone his own age to talk to. He looked to his dad, who nodded approval for him to go with Roman.

"He'll get along great with Layla," Grace said to Trevor once Tyler and Roman were on their way down the ramp to the boat.

"I'm hoping so. He's not really made a friend yet since we moved here. He's not very sociable, as much as I try to encourage him to be."

"Layla will bring him out of his shell. She's a great kid, and very confident."

Trevor smiled at that, as Grace gestured towards the ramp, allowing him to walk down ahead of her.

They descended to the boat, and Trevor went over to join Tyler, who was already sitting next to Layla. Roman was sitting over on one side of the seating area, maintaining a tactful distance from Andrea. Grace walked over to him. "I'm going to go and tell Tessa we're ready to leave."

"Alright," Roman said, getting to his feet. "Tell her I'll sort the moorings out."

Grace nodded, then headed inside the boat's structure. Tessa was sitting up front at the steering wheel, with the engine already idling. It wasn't pleasant, but Grace had to mention the suspicions she had over her absence from work the previous day.

As Grace approached, Tessa heard her and turned, greeting her with a smile. "Hi."

"Hi, Tessa. Rome's getting us ready to leave. Before we do, there's something I need to have a quick talk to you about."

"Oh?" Tessa asked, her expression letting on that she knew what was coming, which in turn confirmed to Grace that her suspicions were accurate, as did the fact that Tessa didn't look ill in the least.

"You phoned in sick yesterday, saying you had flu. If that was the case, that would be fine. I mean, we all get sick. But you don't look ill to me, and you didn't sound ill yesterday to Deonna when you called her." Grace made sure to speak gently and carefully. "I think I know what's going on, and I think you know that I know. I want to help you, as does Roman. If I can't help you, I want you to go to someone who can. Domestic violence is an awful thing, and no one should..."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tessa said, looking away, out of the window.

"I think you do," Grace persisted, treading carefully. "I think that if you didn't have that wetsuit on, I'd see bruising on your body. I think whoever is hurting you is very careful, trying to never do it where the damage they do can be seen. But it doesn't always work out like that. I've seen bruising on your arm before."

"Grace, no one is hitting me," Tessa insisted, still looking away.

Grace knew that she couldn't force Tessa to talk to her. Pressing her any further was likely to anger her. It left her with a warning as her only option. "I'm not going to keep going on at you. But if this is going to stop you turning up for work, it's obviously going to be something I'll take into account at the end of your three month trial."

"It won't happen again," Tessa said stiffly. "Has Roman prepared us to leave?"

Grace looked back to check. Roman gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah. You know where we're headed."

"Yep," Tessa said in the same stiff tone, giving the boat some throttle.

Deciding that the best thing to do was leave Tessa be for a while, Grace went back to join the others. She was happy to see Layla and Tyler chatting, or more accurately Layla talking at Tyler. It made her smile. She decided to cut the little guy a break for a minute. "Lay, it's time to get our wetsuits on. Why don't you go below deck with your mom and she can help you?"

"Good idea," Andrea said, smiling slightly herself at the way the two kids had been interacting.

"Are you going to learn to dive one day?" Layla asked Tyler, phrasing it as if she thought yes would obviously be the answer.

"I don't know. I've never really tried swimming much," he confessed.

"Come on, Lay," Andrea said a little forcefully, leading her away, carrying their two wetsuits.

"The water is often great for swimming at the beach here," Grace said to Tyler, sitting down next to Roman.

"Maybe I'll try next time I go with dad," Tyler said.

Trevor and Tyler started talking about that idea, leaving Roman to quietly ask, "What did Tessa say?"

Grace sighed. "Not at a lot. She denied anything is happening to her. I hoped she would talk to me about it, or at least agree to talk to someone, but I can't make her. I had to tell her that if she keeps taking time off work it will be looked at badly when her trial period is reviewed."

"Man, this situation sucks," Roman said with a grimace.

"Yeah, it does. I wish there was a way to help her. Someone's beating her, Roman, I'm convinced of it now. The fear is that something really bad happens to her. I don't want her to end up in a hospital or worse."

"Amen to that," Roman said sincerely. "You've tried to talk to her. There's not much else we can do. Babe, you'd better go and change into your wetsuit. We'll be at the dive site before long."

"You're right," Grace said, letting out a sigh. There was plenty on her mind, but she had to try her best to force it aside for now. It was time to get her head into dive instructor mode.


	49. Chapter 49

Over breakfast the next morning, Grace was feeling frustrated with herself. Her encounter with Tessa Blanchard the previous morning had been on her mind ever since it had happened, leaving her questioning herself about how she had handled it. Had she been too stern in her effort not to sound like a pushover of a boss? Could she have come across in a more understanding way and maybe convinced Tessa to open up to her? There was no way to know now.

"Thinking about Tessa again?" Roman asked, looking at her while sipping from a cup of coffee.

"Yeah," Grace sighed. "I just don't get it, Rome. Like, why do people stay with partners that beat them? Assuming it is a partner that's beating her of course. Why would someone stay in that situation? If you struck me that would be it, no questions asked and no second chances. Not that I'm saying you ever would, obviously."

"I know what you're saying," Roman assured her. "And I don't really have an answer for you if I'm honest. I guess people get into the mentality that their partner will change because they love each other. Of course no one who actually did love someone would ever dream of beating them in the first place."

"It's not something I've ever encountered personally before," Grace said, looking down at her half eaten meal. She was doing more pushing the food around the plate than eating it. "It makes me sick, Rome, literally sick."

"Trust me, I agree," he said. He left a moment of silence before changing the subject, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "It's kind of crazy to think that Layla will be a certified junior diver by the end of the day. She's really taken to it like a duck to water."

Grace couldn't help laughing at his truly awful turn of phrase. "That's right up there with the worst of your Grace puns."

"That's not even close to the worst of my Grace puns. I can start using them again if you want?"

"Try it and see what happens," she said, giving him a warning look. It struck her immediately that she had just made a joke hinting at domestic violence. After the events of late, it didn't seem funny in the way that it would have done at one time.

"I'm done if you are?" Roman asked, pushing his empty plate away.

Grace faced up to the fact that she wasn't going to be eating any more of her breakfast and pushed her plate away too. "So, we've decided we're going down to the boat early?" she asked as they got up to leave the hotel's restaurant.

"Yeah. I'll text Andrea in a minute and tell her we'll meet them down there. If we go there just the two of us, there's a small chance that Tessa might decide to talk to us. I think it's unlikely, but there is a chance. If not, we can help her get the boat ready to go out."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Grace said as they weaved their way across the restaurant towards the exit.

Twenty minutes later, they were getting out of Roman's Mercedes down at the docks. Finding a parking space had not been difficult, given that it was still relatively early in the day. Another hour or so would see visitors and tourists starting to flock in, as they did every day.

Grace retrieved the travel case containing her scuba gear from the trunk, and the set off walking along the waterside towards Graceful Adventure.

"Peaceful at this time of day, isn't it?" Roman commented.

It was true, Grace realised as soon as he said it. The only sounds they could hear were water lapping against the wall at the edge of the dock, and seagulls squawking. "This is part of the reason I've always wanted to do something like this for a living," she said. "No frantic pace, no being stuck in traffic for hours at a time."

A woman's screamed pierced the peaceful atmosphere. Grace and Roman looked at each other with concern.

"That sounded like it came from over by Graceful Adventure," Roman said.

"Tessa?" Grace queried. By then, they were both already jogging in the direction of the boat, which wasn't much further along the dock.

When they got past the bigger boat that had been obscuring Graceful Adventure from their view, Grace saw that it was indeed Tessa Blanchard who had screamed. She was inside the boat, cowering on the floor near the steering wheel. A man in a grey hooded top and black shorts was standing over her, kicking the shit out of her.

"Hey! Fucking stop that, asshole!" Roman yelled angrily.

Grace had already abandoned her travel case, running around the dock to the ramp that led down to the boat.

"Grace! Wait!" Roman called, running after her.

"Get the hell away from her!" Grace shouted, sprinting down the ramp onto the boat. When she got on-board, things seemed to start happening in slow motion.

The man, presumably Tessa's boyfriend, started to spin around. Grace realised that she hadn't got a plan for what to do when she was confronted by him. She also realised that she had seriously fucked up by leaving Roman behind. He was only just starting to run down the ramp. Grace saw Tessa's attacker pulling a gun out from the back of his shorts, his face full of rage.

Let him go, she told herself. The cops could deal with him. She started to raise her hands to indicate that she wasn't going to be a threat to the guy, yet he pointed the gun right at her. There was a loud bang, and Grace felt like she had been punched in the chest. Looking down at herself, she saw a red blob expanding across the middle of her chest.

Oh shit! He shot me! He actually fucking shot me, she thought, feeling herself falling to the deck. It struck her as remarkable that there was hardly any pain. As she fell, she saw that Roman was now on the boat. Shocked, he was standing there gaping at her with a look of horror on his face. Meanwhile, the shooter was away up the ramp, fleeing.

Get some pressure on the wound, Grace told herself as she hit the deck, clasping both of her hands to her chest. "Help me," she gasped, looking up at Roman.

Rushing over to her, Roman already had his phone in his hand. "Ambulance! I need an ambulance!" he was shouting into the device. "My girlfriend has been shot! I don't know who the guy was, he ran off! Just get someone here now! We're at the docks, down at the far end! The boat is called Graceful Adventure!"

Grace watched Roman drop his phone, rip his shirt off and ball it up. He shoved her hands aside and pressed the shirt down hard onto her chest, applying better pressure than she had managed. "Stay with me, babe," he cried, panic in his eyes. "There's an ambulance on its way. Help is coming."

Although she knew it was a bad idea to close her eyes, Grace felt herself fading into unconsciousness.

No, this can't be my time to die. Not here. Not like this, she thought desperately.

"Grace! Grace!" Roman yelled at her, begging her to respond.

Everything went black.

THE END


	50. Chapter 50

EPILOGUE

"Grace! Grace!"

The yelling woke Grace up. For a moment, she didn't know where she was. Then the pain came, and she soon remembered. She was in hospital. It had been three days since she had been shot by Tessa Blanchard's boyfriend, not that she could remember much about those three days. She had spent most of the time asleep, dosed up with morphine after the emergency surgery that had saved her life.

Somehow, she had learned, the bullet that had hit her had passed right through her chest and out of her back, missing everything vital along the way. It could have hit her heart and killed her. It could have hit her spine and paralysed her. Thankfully, neither of those things had happened, and she was no longer in danger of losing her life.

What she had discovered was that while actually being shot hadn't seemed to hurt, for whatever weird reason, after the surgery had been done it hurt like a bastard, even with morphine in her system.

"Grace!" the voice yelled for a third time. It was Layla. She had just run into Grace's private room, excited to see her.

"Lay! I told you to keep your voice down!" Roman scolded, hurrying into the room behind her.

Grace lifted her head to look at them. She was glad to see Roman, who had been there at her side almost every time she had woken up since the surgery. Earlier in the day, he had asked if it was okay for him to go and bring Layla in to see her. Grace hadn't needed to think about it. Of course she wanted to see Layla, and put the poor girl's mind at ease that she was going to be fine.

"Grace! Are you okay?" Layla asked, standing at the side of the bed. "You look bad."

"Thanks, sweetie," Grace said, managing to laugh through her pain. "I'm hurting, but I'm going to be okay. Rome, can you help me raise the bed up?"

"Of course." Roman said. He moved past Layla, picked up the control for the bed and handed it to Grace.

"Thank you," she said, pushing the button to raise the top half of the bed so that she was moved into something closer to a sitting position.

"How are you feeling?" Roman asked, leaning over to kiss her gently on the forehead.

"The same. I was sleeping again," Grace reported.

"What's that going into your arm?" Layla asked, looking at the morphine drip with wide eyes.

"That's medicine for my pain," Grace explained.

"Can I give you a hug?" Layla asked cautiously.

"You can, but be gentle," Grace said, spreading her arms.

Layla leaned over the bed and hugged her as lightly as she possibly could. "I thought you were going to die," she said sadly.

"I'm not going to die, honey," Grace promised her.

"I know. Dad said the doctors fixed you up," Layla said as they parted.

Roman had gone out of the room to fetch a second chair to add to the one that he had been using for the past couple of days. He brought one in and set it down next to the first. "Sit down, please, Lay. I have good news," he reported to Grace.

"Oh?"

"The guy handed himself into police this morning."

Grace knew that he meant the man who had shot her, and that he would have used a much stronger description if Layla hadn't been there. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"Tessa told me. She called me while I was on the way to pick Layla up."

"How is she?" Grace asked. One of the few things she could remember about the fateful trip to Graceful Adventure was Tessa having the shit kicked out of her by her boyfriend, who was apparently called Brian Cage.

"Badly bruised ribs, a broken nose, plus the two black eyes that came with it. But she assured me she's going to be okay now that Brian has turned himself in. He was arrested for attempted murder, as well as other charges related to attacking Tessa. She wanted me to pass on her apologies to you for what happened."

"She had nothing to apologise to me for," Grace said. She didn't have the energy to sound incredulous, but if she had been able to, she would have.

"She feels that if she had opened up to us, or someone, sooner about what was happening to her, the shooting would never have happened."

"There's only one person to blame for me being shot: the guy who shot me," Grace said.

"I guess it's going to be a while before you can swim again," Layla said sombrely.

Grace managed a quiet laugh. "Yeah, it will be a while. But don't worry, the first thing I'm going to do when I can get back in the water is finish your scuba course."

Layla smiled at that. It hadn't taken a genius to figure out that was what she'd had on her mind with the original question.

"Seth and Zelina are going to stop by again later," Roman said next. "And Daga and Bayley are going to come and see you as soon as they can, too, as is Lucy Thorne."

"She doesn't need to do that. She's done enough for me," Grace said. She had already been informed that WWE would be covering all costs for her treatment, despite the shooting having nothing to do with the company. She would also be moving to a private hospital to continue her treatment and rehab as soon as she was well enough to be transported, again at WWE's expense.

Roman smiled. "I don't think the money is a problem to her. The problem she's got is that her top heel character who wasn't a heel character just got ruined. No one is going to be cold enough to boo you after this. So, she's got to think about what to do when you return, whenever that will be."

"Well she'd better think fast, because I'm going to be back soon, and I'll be in the shape of my life." The words sounded quiet and weak, but they were certainly not lacking in conviction.

"Oh, I think that's already set in stone," Roman said.

Grace and Layla both cringed. Even the ten year old knew an awful turn of phrase when she heard one.

"Dad! Your jokes are awful!"

For the first time since the shooting, Grace's hospital room filled with laughter.


End file.
